Taguig mayoral bets' supporters crowd city hall complex

MANILA, Philippines - Tension gripped the Taguig City Hall yesterday after supporters of two mayoralty bets trooped to the area while votes were still being counted.

Senior Superintendent Camilo Cascolan, Taguig police chief, said some 100 supporters of mayoral candidate Lani Cayetano proceeded to the city hall grounds and started a vigil that will end only when the final results are released.

He said that another 100 residents who are supporting Cayetano’s rival, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Dante Tiñga, also showed up and stayed inside the city hall building.

“They were just yelling at each other. There is no untoward incident so far,” Cascolan said adding, “However, to ensure peace and order and monitor the actions of these spectators, members of the local police were spread out in the city hall ground.”

In fact, Cascolan said, personnel from the Southern Police District were also sent to the area to help in crowd control.

Ana Santos, chief of the city’s public information office, said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will just release the results after the counting of votes has ended.

“We are preventing the situation from being misinterpreted by some people. Cayetano’s supporters might think that she already won but some of the precincts have not yet been covered,” Santos said.

According to the latest count by the Comelec, Cayetano was leading Tiñga by a small margin.

Cayetano said she and her supporters did not mean any harm when they went to the city hall yesterday.

“I was expecting that I will already be proclaimed winner since the results we checked from the Comelec’s main office showed that I was leading,” she said, adding that they are just waiting for her to be proclaimed the winner.

Cayetano said they will not leave city hall until she is finally proclaimed. “I just hope the opposing camp will respect the results of the elections,” she said.