2013 Zamboanga City local elections

2013 Zamboanga City mayoralty election

May 13, 2013

Nominee Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar Erico Basilio Fabian Romeo Jaloslos disqualified Party Liberal Fuerza Zamboanga UNA Running mate Cesar Iturralde Luis Climaco Mercy Arquiza-Fernandez Popular vote 172,439 29,923 Percentage 77.26% 13.18%   Nominee Albert Cajayon Party Lakas Popular vote 5,967 Percentage 2.67%

Mayor before election Celso Lobregat LDP Elected mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar Liberal

Local elections were held in Zamboanga City on May 13, 2013, within the Philippine general election. The voters elected for the elective local posts in the city: the mayor, vice mayor, and eight councilors per district.

Summary

Two main coalitions posied for the control of Zamboanga City beginning mid-2012:

• The Adelante Zamboanga Party (AZAP) headed by incumbent Mayor Celso Lobregat; and
• The Zamboangueños for the Transformation of Zamboanga (ZTZ) headed by former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos.

LP-LDP-AZAP

The AZAP coalition is composed of the local party itself and the local chapters of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino and of the Liberal Party. Incumbent District II Representative Erico Basilio Fabian is term-bounded and cannot run for another term and is poised to run for the mayorship in the next elections. But the party endorsed, with the initiative of Mayor Lobregat, incumbent District I Representative Beng Climaco for the mayorship.

The Split

Felt being junked by his former partymates in Lobregat's camp, Fabian decided to run against Climaco-Salazar under the banner of a new party, the Fuerza Zamboanga. Lobregat denied Fabian's allegations citing that Fabian confirmed that he will not run for a new post and consider retirement.

ZTZ-UNA

By the start of June 2012, former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos announced his bid for the mayoralty in Zamboanga City. He then started to establish a non-government organization known as the Zamboangueños for the Transformation of Zamboanga (ZTZ) with a 25-point agenda aimed at transforming Zamboanga City with progress and development.

The United Nationalist Alliance fielded Jalosjos to chair the UNA local chapter in the city and Zamboanga del Norte.

Disqualification Case

Representative Beng Climaco and Jomar Lobregat, the Mayor's brother filed a disqualification case against Jalosjos citing that he didn't meet the one year residency requirement. He is also questioned that he is not qualified because of his conviction in a rape case in 1997 while he served in Congress.

On January 15, 2013, the Commission on Elections disqualified Jalosjos alongside his brother, Dominador Jalosjos who is also a candidate for governor of Zamboanga del Sur for violating the Local Government Code of 1991 which bars ex-convicts to run for office and run short of the required one-year residency in the place where a candidate can run.

Retiring and term-limited elective officials

• Celso Lobregat, incumbent mayor, term-limited in 2013
• Erico Basilio Fabian, incumbent District II Representative, term-limited in 2013
• Rodoflo Lim, incumbent District I councilor, term-limited in 2013
• Benjamin Guingona III, incumbent District II councilor, term-limited in 2013
• Reyniero Candido, incumbent District II councilor, term-limited in 2013

Candidates

Notes:

• bold means the candidate is incumbent and running for reelection;
• italic means the candidate previously run last 2010 election either on the same post or other posts;
• bold and italic means the candidate is an incumbent and is running for another position.

Position		LP-LDP-AZAP Coalition Team PNoy			United Nationalist Alliance			Fuerza Zamboanga			Other parties			Independents
Mayor			Liberal	Beng Climaco					Nacionalista	Erico Basilio Fabian		Lakas	Alberto Cajayon
Vice Mayor			LDP	Cesar Iturralde		UNA	Mercy Arquiza-Fernandez		Independent	Luis Climaco				Alexander Francisco
Member of the House of Representatives	1st		LDP	Celso Lobregat		UNA	Crisanto dela Cruz					PMP	Chrisler Cabarrubias	Cesar Climaco, Jr. Abdurahman Tagayan
	2nd		AZAP	Jose Lobregat		UNA	Manuel Jose Dalipe		Independent	Lilia Macrohon-Nuño		LM	Samuel Enesando	Abelardo Climaco
Member of the Zamboanga City Council	1st		Liberal	Elbert Atilano Ahmad Sampang		UNA	Rodolfo Bayot Rowland Bella Jarah Bernardo Antonio Blanco Jaime Cabato Jerson Monteverde Alexis Ortega Marlon Torres		Independent	Miguel Apostol Joselito Bernardo Hado Edding Melchor Sadain		NPC	Cesar Jimenez, Jr.	Armando Bucoy Josephine Pareja Khymer Olaso Dominador Managula Rizaldy Montebon
			LDP	Myra Paz Valederrosa-Abubakar Luis Biel III Tito Espiritusanto Charlie Mariano Rogelio Valesco, Jr.
			AZAP	Violeta Alejandro
	2nd		Liberal	Roel Natividad Arturo Onrubia		UNA	Mohammadnur Ajihil Rommel Agan John Dalipe Susan delos Reyes Al-Jihan Edding Juan Climaco Elago II Resurrecion Miravite Leomyr Toribio		Independent	Gerasimo Acuña Basilio Apolinario VII Carlito Depositario Roseller Enriquez Antonio Feliciano Eduardo Mingala				Frederick Atilano Abubakar Hakim John David Corpin Nulhamdo Cegales Bahari Camlian Hussayin Apra Quirino Aba Christopher Miguel, Sr.
			LDP	Miguel Alavar III Francisco Barredo Benjamin Guingona IV Percival Ramos Eduardo Saavedra, Jr.
			AZAP	Vincent Paul Elago

Results

The candidates for district representative, mayor, and vice mayor with the highest number of votes wins the seat; they are voted separately, therefore, they may be of different parties when elected.

House of Representatives election

See also: Philippine House of Representatives elections in the Zamboanga Peninsula, 2013 § Zamboanga City

1st District

Incumbent Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar is not running; she is running for the mayorship instead; Incumbent Mayor Celso Lobregat is her party's nominee under the coalition of LDP-LP-AZAP.

The UNA-ZTZ coalition fielded former Monsignor Crisanto dela Cruz for the post. Dela Cruz previously run for the mayorship in 2007 and for the vice-mayorship in 2010. This will be the second time where Dela Cruz and Mayor Lobregat will go against each other as they have last 2007 mayoral elections.

2013 Philippine House of Representatives election at Zamboanga City's 1st district

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Team PNoy	Celso Lobregat	42,826	38.53%
	UNA	Crisanto Dela Cruz	32,234	29.00%
	Independent	Cesar Climaco, Jr.	20,355	18.31%
	PMP	Chrisler Cabarrubias	1,910	1.72%
	Independent	Abdurahman Tagayan	639	0.57%
Turnout			98,072	88.13%
Rejected ballots			13,085	11.77%
Total votes			111,157	100.00
	LDP hold

2nd District

Incumbent Erico Basilio Fabian is term limited and running for the mayorship instead. He then formed a local coalition known as Fuerza Zamboanga yielding District II Councilor Lilia Nuño to replace him.

The AZAP coalition nominates Mayor Lobregat's brother, Jose Lobregat, to run for the post.

The ZTZ coalition recruited former City Vice-Mayor Mannix Dalipe to run for the post.

2013 Philippine House of Representatives election at Zamboanga City's 2nd district

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Fuerza Zamboanga	Lilia Nuño	33,475	29.88%
	Team PNoy	Jose Lobregat	27,912	24.91%
	UNA	Manuel Jose Dalipe	25,242	22.53%
	Independent	Abelardo Climaco	8,783	7.84%
	LM	Samuel Enesando	1,792	1.60%
Turnout			97,204	86.76%
Rejected ballots			14,835	13.24%
Total votes			112,039	100.00
	Fuerza Zamboanga hold

Mayoral elections

Incumbent Mayor Celso Lobregat is his third consecutive term and is barred to run for another term. He ran for Congress representing the First Legislative District.

Zamboanga City mayoral election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Team PNoy	Beng Climaco	172,439	77.26%
	Fuerza Zamboanga	Erico Basilio Fabian	29,423	13.18%
	Lakas	Albert Cajayon	5,967	2.67%
Turnout			207,829	93.12%
Rejected ballots			15,367	6.88%
Total votes			223,196	100.00
	Liberal hold

Vice-mayoral elections

Incumbent Vice-Mayor Cesar Iturralde is running for reelection against former Councilor Luis Climaco and former Dapitan councilor Mercy Arquiza-Fernandez.

Zamboanga City Vice Mayoral Election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Team PNoy	Cesar Iturralde (incumbent)	100,430	45.00%
	Fuerza Zamboanga	Luis Climaco	66,784	29.92%
	UNA	Mercy Arquiza-Fernandez	20,574	9.22%
	Independent	Alexander Lisito Francisco	2,496	1.32%
Turnout			190,284	85.25%
Rejected ballots			32,912	14.75%
Total votes			223,196	100.00
	LDP hold

City Council elections

Each of Zamboanga City's two legislative districts elects eight councilors to the City Council. The eight candidates with the highest number of votes wins the seats per district.

2013 Zamboanga City Council election

May 13, 2013
All 8 seats from each of Zamboanga City's two legislative districts 9 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Celso Lobregat Romeo Jalosjos Cesar Jimenez, Jr. Party LDP UNA NPC Alliance Team PNoy UNA Independent Leader's seat 1st District 2nd District 1st District Seats before 11 0 5 Seats won 8 3 1 Seat change 3 3 4   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Erico Basilio Fabian Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar Jose Lobregat Party Nacionalista Liberal AZAP Alliance Fuerza Zamboanga Team PNoy Team PNoy Leader's seat 2nd District 1st District 2nd District Seats before 0 0 0 Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 1 1 1

Coalition		Mayoral/vice mayoral candidate	Total votes		Total seats
			Total	%	Total	%
	Team PNoy	Beng Climaco			10	55.6%
	UNA	Romeo Jalosjos			3	16.7%
	Fuerza Zamboanga	Erbie Fabian			1	5.6%
	NPC	None			1	5.6%
	Independents	Varies			1	5.6%
Total valid votes cast				N/A
Total turnout
Total partisan seats					16	88.9%
Seat for Association of Barangay Captains President					1	5.6%
Seat for Association of Sangguniang Kabataan chairmen President					1	5.6%
Total non-partisan seats					2	11.1%
Total seats					18	100.0%

1st District

Summary of the May 13, 2013 Zamboanga City Council election results

#	Candidate	Coalition	Party		Votes	%	Swing
1	Melchor Sadain (incumbent)	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	55,984	%
2	Rogelio Valesco, Jr. (incumbent)	Team PNoy		LDP	53,979	%
3	Cesar Jimenez, Jr. (incumbent)	not affiliated		NPC	52,873	%
4	Charlie Mariano	Team PNoy		LDP	51,277	%
5	Luis Biel III (incumbent)	Team PNoy		LDP	49,798	%
6	Josephine Pareja	not affiliated		Independent	47,798	%
7	Myra Paz Valderrosa-Abubakar (incumbent)	Team PNoy		LDP	46,691	%
8	Rodolfo Bayot (incumbent)	UNA		UNA	45,691	%
9	Jaime Cabato (incumbent)	UNA		UNA	45,564	%
10	Elbert Atilano	Team PNoy		Liberal	41,222	%
11	Hado Edding	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	24,724	%
12	Ahmad Sampang	Team PNoy		Liberal	23,902	%
13	Tito Espiritusanto	Team PNoy		LDP	21,805	%
14	Antonio Blanco	UNA		UNA	15,021	%
15	Violeta Alejandro	Team PNoy		AZAP	12,911	%
16	Alexis Ortega	UNA		UNA	12,653	%
17	Jarah Bernardo Romuar	UNA		UNA	10,791	%
18	Joselito Bernardo	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	10,702	%
19	Miguel Apostol	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	10,171	%
20	Jerson Monteverde	UNA		UNA	8,085	%
21	Armando Bucoy	Not affiliated		Independent	6,215	%
22	Marlon Torres	UNA		UNA	6,142	%
23	Khymer Olaso	Not affiliated		Independent	4,936	%
24	Rowland Bella	UNA		UNA	3,879	%
25	Rizaldy Montebon	Not affiliated		Lakas	3,760	%
26	Dominador Managula	Not affiliated		Independent	1,717	%
Certificates of canvass already canvassed
Total turnout							1.29%
Total votes						N/A
Registered voters							2.80%

2nd District

Summary of the May 13, 2013 Zamboanga City Council election results

#	Candidate	Coalition	Party		Votes	%	Swing
1	Roel Natividad	Team PNoy		Liberal	53,968	8.41%
2	Benjamin Guingona IV	Team PNoy		LDP	49,696	6.93%
3	Miguel Alavar III (incumbent)	Team PNoy		LDP	43,955	6.74%
4	Eduardo Saavedra, Jr. (incumbent)	Team PNoy		LDP	42,792	6.57%
5	Juan Climaco Elago II	UNA		UNA	42,653	6.73%
6	Percival Ramos (incumbent)	Team PNoy		LDP	38,494	5.74%
7	Rommel Agan (incumbent)	UNA		UNA	37,514	6.09%
8	Vincent Paul Elago (incumbent)	Team PNoy		AZAP	36,213	5.66%
9	John Dalipe	UNA		UNA	35,506	5.57%
10	Francisco Barredo	Team PNoy		LDP	34,372	5.34%
11	Al-Jihan Edding	UNA		UNA	35,227	5.34%
12	Susan delos Reyes	UNA		UNA	29,083	4.52%
13	Gerasimo Acuña	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	25,537	4.05%
14	Arturo Onrubia	Team PNoy		Liberal	24,612	3.93%
15	Frederick Atilano	Not affiliated		Independent	14,538	2.28%
16	Abubakar Hakim	Not affiliated		Independent	11,545	1.66%
17	Basilio Apolinario VII	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	11,484	1.68%
18	Loemyr Toribio	UNA		UNA	10,901	1.57%
19	Roseller Enriquez	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	10,828	1.77%
20	Resurrecion Miravite	UNA		UNA	9,848	1.58%
21	John David Corpin	Not affiliated		Independent	9,621	1.45%
22	Mohammadnur Ajihil	UNA		UNA	8,641	1.28%
23	Antonio Feliciano	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	5,357	0.88%
24	Carlito Depositario	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	5,200	0.85%
25	Nulhamdo Cegales	Not affiliated		Independent	4,817	0.70%
26	Bahari Camlian	Not affiliated		Independent	4,739	0.69%
27	Hussayin Apra	Not affiliated		Independent	4,526	0.66%
28	Eduardo Mingala	Fuerza Zamboanga		Independent	4,127	0.58%
29	Quirino Aba	Not affiliated		Independent	2,743	0.41%
30	Christopher Miguel, Sr.	Not affiliated		Independent	2,153	0.32%
Certificates of canvass already canvassed
Total turnout							1.29%
Total votes					64,119	N/A
Registered voters							2.80%

Aftermath

Proclamation

As the election unofficial results found that Climaco was leading by a wide margin, Fabian announced his concession and congratulates Climaco for winning the election. “I concede defeat and I would like to congratulate my dear friend Beng Climaco,” Fabian said in a press statement. On May 14, 2013, Climaco was proclaimed winner by the City Board of Canvassers in the mayoralty elections. She also laid out her plans for the city which includes the solution to solve the city power crisis and the peace and order situation.

District II Representative-elect Lilia Macrohon-Nuño also urged the people of Zamboanga to move on and discuss what is best for the city. She also revived the issue of creating a third congressional district for the city in which the city has more than 770,000 people. According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, each district shall represent 250,000. Currently, the city is represented twice in the House of Representatives. A previous move by then Congresswoman Climaco was made by filing a bill to Congress creating the said district but was blocked by the majority of the members of Zamboanga City Council.

Cabato electoral protest

After the proclamation of all the councilors of District I, outgoing incumbent Councilor Jaime Cabato who landed on the 8th spot announced his intention to file an electoral protest against his own partymate, Rudy Bayot who landed on the 7th spot and against the administration party bet, Myra Paz Valderrosa. Cabato was a former member of the administration-led party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino until he switched sides with then mayoralty candidate, Romeo Jalosjos citing the fact that he disagreed with the candidate line-up of the LDP.

Taluksangay issue

Jose Augustus Villano, chairman of the Zamboanga chapter of Legal Network for Peaceful Election (LENTE), said his group found that of the 847 registered person with disabilities (PWDs) voters in Zamboanga City, 505 or almost 60 percent are from Barangay Taluksangay. Taluksangay is under the control of the Nuños which Lilia, one of its powerful members won the congressional race in District II.

Villano himself observed voting at the five clustered precincts of Taluksangay. He immediately noticed that almost all voters, whether they appeared to have a disability or not, were helped by a small group of people stationed inside the precinct. When Villalon asked election officers about them, he was told they were “liners” there to assist PWDs. LENTE records show that 80 to 90 percent of all who voted were assisted. Villano thinks that the people assisted might have been illiterate rather than PWDs. “I asked them in both Tagalog and in the native dialect Tausug and they understood. I asked them who they want to vote for and they pointed at the names.” When he asked the voters how they were related to the “liners,” they replied, “Sila ang magvo-vote para sa amin (They were the ones who voted for us).” When Villano told the election officers that this was illegal, the Board of Election Inspectors replied that she cannot assist the voters herself because she is "busy".

Despite its small voting population, Taluksangay was a point of contention during the campaign period. Jomar Lobregat’s party, Adelante Zamboanga, claims that they were not allowed to post their materials in there. In a news item in Zamboanga Times on April 14, Adelante Zamboanga team coordinator Rudy Lim said that when he asked Taluksangay barangay chairman Abdurahman Nuño if they can conduct a meeting in Taluksangay, Nuño replied, “No deal."

Abdurahman Nuño is the husband of Lilia and sits on the city council ex-officio and is president of the Association of Barangay Captains.

See also

• Philippine House of Representatives elections in the Zamboanga Peninsula, 2013
• 2013 Philippine general election

External links

• Official website of the Commission on Elections
• Official website of National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL)
• Official website of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV)