Joy Belmonte is QC’s new mayor
Credit to Author: GLEE JALEA| Date: Tue, 14 May 2019 01:44:30 +0000
VICE Mayor Josefina “Joy” Belmonte was elected mayor of Quezon City, defeating Jose “Bingbong” Crisologo in one of the hotly contested local elections in Metro Manila.
Belmonte, daughter of former Quezon City mayor Fernando Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte , was proclaimed on Tuesday after garnering 469, 480 votes ahead of Crisologo’s 366,215 in the midterm polls.
The canvassing at the Session Hall of the city’s Levislative Building finished 15 hours after polls closed at 6 p.m. on Monday.
The younger Belmonte succeeded outgoing mayor Herbert Bautista, who then served as vice mayor of Belmonte’s father from 2001 to 2010 in the vote-rich city.
Ending her third term as Quezon City’s vice mayor, she previously vowed to regain the true “Belmonte Brand” of leadership by upholding fairness, honesty, transparency, accountability and zero corruption in the city.
Meanwhile, Belmonte’s running mate councilor Gian Sotto was also proclaimed new vice mayor after garnering 382,393 votes ahead of 343,470 votes received by lawyer Joseph Peter Sison.
Belmonte and Sotto are both representing Serbisyo sa Bayan Party (SBP).
Crisologo and Sison ran under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). They were proclaimed winners past 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
Crisologo was released from detention by authorities, together with his son William Frederick Crisologo and 44 others, pending preliminary investigation on their involvement in an alleged vote-buying incident on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, city councilor Roderick Paulate only placed third in the vice mayoralty race with 112,613 votes.
Paulate, a former actor, was previously issued a 90-day preventive suspension order by the Sandiganbayan 7th Division over his graft and falsification charges in connection with allegedly hiring “fictitious job contractors” in 2010.
Also proclaimed winners in the congressional race of Quezon City’s six legislative districts were Crisologo’s son Anthony Peter (1st District), outgoing councilor Precious Hipolito-Castelo (2nd District), outgoing councilor Allan Benedict Reyes (3rd District), former councilor Jesus “Bong” Suntay (4th District), reelectionist Rep. Alfred Vargas (5th District), and reelectionist Rep. Jose Christopher “Kit” Belmonte (6th District).
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