Over 1 million votes for Joy Belmonte

MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte made history in this year’s midterm elections with an unprecedented one million votes for a mayoralty candidate.

Belmonte secured a third term with 1,030,730 votes, representing 95.56 percent of the total votes cast in the city, official election results showed.

Her four rivals received combined votes of 47,843.

With over 1.45 million registered voters, Quezon City is the most vote-rich place in the country.

Some 1.15 million people participated in the midterm polls, translating to a voter turnout of 79.11 percent.

Belmonte and other winning local candidates were officially proclaimed yesterday by the Commission on Elections.

The mayor’s father, former speaker and Quezon City mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., was among those who attended the proclamation.

Vice Mayor Gian Sotto – who is also on his final term – received 938,686 votes, way ahead of his three rivals, who secured a combined total of 65,487 votes.

During the campaign, Belmonte and Sotto committed to double their efforts and further improve the services provided to citizens.

“I will prove to you that good and effective governance is indeed possible in Quezon City. When your public servants are honest, you are the ones who benefit. You should not settle for anything less than an honest public servant,” Belmonte said.

Most candidates under the Serbisyo sa Bayan slate of Belmonte and Sotto were also proclaimed winners.

They are congressional candidates Arjo Atayde (District 1), Ralph Tulfo (District 2), Franz Pumaren (District 3), PM Vargas (District 5) and Marivic Co-Pilar (District 6).

In District 4, reelectionist Rep. Marvin Rillo narrowly lost to former congressman Bong Suntay, with a margin of over 200 votes.