Trinidad, Fresnedi and Carlos proclaimed

Incumbent Mayors Wenceslao Trinidad of Pasay City, Jaime Fresnedi of Muntinlupa City Emmanuel "Bobbit" Carlos of Valenzuela City have been proclaimed by their respective local Commission on Elections chairmen as duly re-elected mayors of their respective cities over the weekend.

And so were neophyte Representative-elect Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela’s first district, son of plastics king William Gatchalian, and incumbent Rep. Magtanggol "Magi" Gunigundo I of the second district.

Gunigundo’s father, former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Magtanggol Sr., lost to the young Gatchalian, however.

Trinidad, of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, won his first term in a regular election over Vice Mayor Greg Alcera of Lakas-NUCD and Ricardo "Ding" Santos of PDP-Laban. He was proclaimed Saturday night.

He won his first term in a recall election after a recall move against ailing Mayor Jovito Claudio early last year.

Trinidad’s running mate, Councilor Antonio Calixto, also won and was proclaimed vice mayor.

Fresnedi of the Lakas-NUCD, won over his closest rival Elizabeth "Ate Bess" Aguilar-Masangkay, posting the biggest winning margin in the history of the city’s mayoral race with a lead of 16,996 votes.

He and his running mate Councilor Jo Jason Alcaraz were proclaimed mayor and vice mayor, respectively, by Muntinlupa-Comelec chief Lourdes Ogalino yesterday morning.

Valenzuela’s Carlos obtained 76,176 votes against his closest rival, former Vice Mayor Ernesto de Guzman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition who got 49,768 votes.

"With the fresh mandate given by my constituents, I can now continue my administration’s various infrastructure and community projects designed to uplift the quality of living in the city," he told newsmen.

Neophyte Rozzano Rufino "Ruffy" Biazon of the LDP scored a major upset over veteran politician and three-termer city mayor, incumbent Rep. Ignacio "Toteng" Bunye of the Lakas-NUCD.

Having garnered 51,435 votes over Bunye’s 49,918 votes, according to the Comelec’s last official tally, he was also proclaimed as the new representative of the city’s lone district in the House of Representatives.

His proud and beaming father, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, was present in his proclamation yesterday afternoon.

The elder Biazon and the new young congressman immediately extended a conciliatory hand to Fresnedi and Alcaraz saying that the post-election period was the time for a "healing process."

Fresnedi, for his part, thanked his constituents for giving him another mandate to continue his projects and programs and add more to his accomplishments which he said were the reasons why he was reelected.