Belmonte seeks reelection as Quezon City vice mayor

MANILA, Philippines - Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte is seeking to be reelected to her third and last term.

Belmonte filed her certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections local office yesterday afternoon.

Belmonte said she opted to seek reelection to continue serving the city residents, especially women and children.

“I have one more term as vice mayor and Mayor Herbert Bautista has one more term. We are from the same team because we are both members of the Liberal Party (LP) so we support each other,” she told reporters.

Bautista is expected to file his COC tomorrow.

Asked why she decided to file her COC ahead of Bautista, Belmonte said feng shui experts told her that her lucky day is either Wednesday or Thursday.

Belmonte said she would join Bautista and other members of the LP ticket in Quezon City when they file their COCs.

She was accompanied by some city councilors and thousands of supporters from the women sector when she filed her COC.

Belmonte said she would focus on education, social services and disaster risk reduction.

She vowed to promote Quezon City as the country’s tourism capital.

During her previous terms, Belmonte was able to boost the city’s livelihood projects for women and provided scholarship grants to poor but deserving students.

She also promoted the city’s programs on environment, health, LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender) community as well as other projects concerning the youth.

Reporter Rolando Jota, 61, of Barangay Laging Handa, will run for vice mayor against Belmonte.

Jota filed his COC yesterday. He vows to remove politicians’ names on government-funded projects if he gets elected.

Councilors Lala Sotto and Roderick Paulate also filed their COCs for reelection.

Sotto is running under the LP banner while Paulate is running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Bautista’s former partner, Maria Teresa Gana, filed her candidacy for councilor under the NPC.

Gana was accompanied by some supporters and actress Karla Estrada.

Gana, a businesswoman, said she informed Bautista of her decision to enter politics.

Councilors Donato Matias, Eufemio Lagumbay and Bayani Hipol filed their COCs for reelection.

Others running for councilor of Quezon City are Ivy Lagman and William Chua.