Guia Gomez, JV win big in San Juan

MANILA, Philippines - Former movie actress Guia Gomez won by a landslide in the mayoralty race in San Juan City.

Gomez, who will succeed her son, third-term Mayor JV Ejercito, garnered 42,119 votes while her closest rival, independent candidate Alton Glen Angeles, received 3,840 votes. Mayoral candidates Manuel Andrada got 2,774 votes; Eduardo San Pascual, 1,600 and Chito Aniceto Tanyo, 1,159 votes.

Angeles is a son of the late Pablo Angeles, who had served as a long-time vice mayor of JV’s father, former President Joseph Estrada, during the latter’s stint as mayor of San Juan.

Estrada witnessed Gomez’s proclamation at around 1 a.m. yesterday.

Ejercito, who sought to represent the lone congressional district of San Juan in the House of Representatives, ran unopposed and garnered 47,840 votes.

Gomez’s running mate, Councilor Francis Zamora, was proclaimed the victor in the vice mayoral race with 45,282 votes. His rival, Alexander Enriquez, garnered 4,055 votes.

The winning candidates for councilor are Vincent Pacheco, Ferdinand Velasco, Angelo Agcaoili, Edgardo Soriano, William Go, and Marie O’Neal Mendoza in the first district; and Jannah Ejercito, daughter of Jessie Ejercito, a brother of Estrada; Roland Bernardo; Richard Peralta; Ardoni Miguel Carballo; Leonardo  Celles, who had just finished his term as vice mayor; and Jose Warren Villa.

In an interview with The STAR, board of election canvassers vice chairman Tomas Ricalde, Jr., said the automated elections in San Juan had been very effective but their only complaint is the huge number of documents that they have to sign after the election process.

“The automated elections are very fast, with credible results. But we find it very tiring the signing of the statement of votes alone which has 337 pages that you have to multiply by four. The automation should be improved by making it a paperless election process,” Ricalde said.