Manila mayor-elect hopes to make dad proud

MANILA, Philippines — Manila mayor-elect Honey Lacuna on Friday said she hoped her father, former vice mayor Danny Lacuna, is proud that a Lacuna finally took the helm of city hall.

In an interview with One News’ “The Chiefs” on Friday night, Lacuna opened up about her wheelchair-bound father, who had suffered a stroke.

“My father has been wheelchaired since 2016. He had a stroke in 2016, the first time I ran for vice mayor,” Lacuna said.

Turning emotional, she said she is not sure if her father, because of his poor health, is even aware of her victory.

“It is saddening that he may not even know of my win. When I was proclaimed, I was really hoping that he would understand, so I was whispering to him: ‘Daddy, your daughter is now a mayor.’ He was just smiling,” Lacuna said.

“I was really hoping he would understand. Hopefully, someday,” she added.

The first female Manila mayor, Lacuna said she hopes to make her father proud because it was the latter’s wish for a Lacuna to sit at city hall. Her father had run for Manila mayor twice but lost.

“This for me is a vindication. They were always saying that a Lacuna is only for the vice mayor position,” she said.

Lacuna, currently the vice mayor, garnered 538,595 votes based on the canvassed results.

She beat three other children of former mayors – Alex Lopez, son of the late Manila mayor Mel Lopez Jr., who got 166,908 votes; Christy Lim, daughter of the late Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, who got 14,857 votes; and former Manila congressman Amado Bagatsing, son of Manila’s longest-serving mayor Ramon Bagatsing, who got 118,694 votes.