But it’s not the Abalos-Domingo bout being closely watched by the city’s political observers but the battle for the vice mayoral post between incumbent Vice Mayor Jessie Cruz and his neophyte challenger, actor Philip Salvador.
Abalos and Cruz will be running under the People’s Power Coalition (PPC) while the tandem of Domingo and Salvador would run under the Pwersang Masang Pilipino (PMP), which was founded by disgraced President Estrada.
Abalos, and his ticket, accompanied by hundreds of residents and members of civic oriented groups filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) amid auspicious mood and joyous atmosphere at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Hours earlier, Domingo and his ticket formalized their candidacies with less fanfare.
In 1998, Abalos won over Domingo by more than 14,000 votes, the biggest margin ever recorded in the political history of Mandaluyong.
In a bid to unseat his opponent, Domingo filed massive election fraud and irregularities charges against Abalos but was thrown out by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). – Non Alquitran