Vice Mayor Dr. Honey Lacuna-Pangan (Facebook photo)
MANILA – Motorcades roamed around the streets of Manila led by several aspirants for the city mayoralty post on Saturday, the second day of the local election campaign.
A total of 124 candidates, including six eyeing to replace presidential bet Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, are vying for 44 posts in the capital city, according to the Commission on Elections records.
Incumbent Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, daughter of former vice mayor Danilo Lacuna, is running under Domagoso’s Aksyon Demokratiko.
A medical doctor, she is the first female vice mayor of Manila.
She is being challenged by Alex Lopez, eldest son of former mayor Mel Lopez Jr.; Cristina Lim-Raymundo, daughter of the late former mayor Alfredo Lim; and Amado Bagatsing, son of former mayor Ramon Bagatsing.
The other two candidates are Onofre Abad, independent, and Elmer Jamias of People’s Reform Party.
A survey conducted by PUBLiCUS lobbying and campaign firm for the period March 16 to 21 showed Lacuna in a three-way statistical tie for first place.
Out of the 100 respondents, Lacuna got 32, Lim 15, and Bagatsing 13, according to data released Saturday.
Lacuna had a more comfortable 44 percent of respondents’ nods in the February 18 to 24 survey.
The vice mayoralty post is being contested by actors Raymond Bagatsing and Yul Servo Nieto, current representative of the Third District, Lucy Lapinig of Partido para sa Demokratikong Reporma, and Arvin Reyes, also an independent.
For the six congressional districts, 20 candidates are vying in the First District, 15 in the second District, 19 in the Third District, 22 in the Fourth District, 23 in the Fifth District, and 15 in the Sixth District.
UniTeam candidate for vice president, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, graced the proclamation rally of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan candidates in Tondo on Friday but said she is not endorsing any of the mayoralty aspirants.
She said Lopez and Bagatsing are her friends.
Bagatsing’s daughter, Cristal, is seeking reelection in the Fifth District. (PNA)
