In Metro Manila congressional race, only four Liberal Party candidates emerged victorious, including two reelectionist representatives.
Incumbent Reps. Edgar “Egay” Erice of Caloocan City and Kit Belmonte of Quezon City will keep their posts after their vote lead was more than 100,000 votes and 70,000 votes, respectively, according to the unofficial tally of ABS-CBN Halalan 2019.
Erice, who got 124, 223 votes, ran against Noel Cabuhat of NUP while Belmonte beat Johnny Domino of PDP-Laban and MC Fabilane of PDDS, garnering 94, 673 votes. Erice represents the second legislative district of Caloocan City while Belmonte represents the sixth legislative district of Quezon City.
The two other LP congressional candidates who will serve in the incoming 18th Congress as neophyte representatives are former Makati City acting mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña Jr. and Dr. Stella Quimbo, a former Economics professor in University of the Philippines-Diliman.
Former Makati City acting mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña Jr. defeated former Vice President Jejomar Binay in Makati City’s first district congressional race. Peña had 71, 035 votes against Binay who got 65, 229 votes.
Quimbo, who helped formulate the National Insurance Act which initiated the Philhealth program, won the Marikina City’s second congressional district derby. The lady Quimbo will replace her husband, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, a former deputy speaker.
Of the 32 winning Metro Manila representatives, 12 are from President Duterte’s PDP-Laban, three from Nacionalista Party (NP) and six from the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).
NP and NPC support the Duterte administration.
Three Metro Manila congressional candidates ran unopposed. They are Dale “Along” Malapitan of Caloocan City’s first legislative district (PDP-Laban), Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City (PDP-Laban), and Wes Gatchalian of Valenzuela City’s first legislative district (NPC). Malapitan and Gatchalian were reelectionist, while Gonzales, a former House Majority leader, made a comeback as Mandaluyong City’s representative. (Charissa M. Luci-Atienza)