Ex-VP Binay loses to Kid Peña in Makati representative bid
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13) — The results are in, and former vice president Jejomar Binay lost his bid to be Makati City first district representative.
After the Makati City Board of Canvassers received all the election returns, results showed Kid Peña led with 71,035 votes while Binay only secured 65,229.
Over 147,000 voters in 235 precincts in the first district of Makati voted. Peña ran for mayor in 2016, but lost to Binay's daughter, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay.
Independent candidates John Mesina and Ferdie Sevilla followed with 1,213 and 728 votes, respectively.
During the proclamation, the Binay camp tried to move for the deferment of proclamation of Peña due to the null votes in District 1, which supposedly total to about 8,000 votes, and the alleged disenfranchisement of voters due to alleged vote-buying incidents, and the numerous blackouts that happened on election day. But the Makati City Board of Canvassers rejected the motion.
Binay's camp insisted they will still file a pleading questioning Peña's proclamation. Board Chairman Jayvee Villagracia said that because the canvassing is over, all pleadings should now be filed before the Commission on Elections.
A ‘disunited’ family
Binay’s defeat comes amid tensions between his two children, Abby and Junjun who have been engaged in heated battle for the Makati mayoral post, before Abby claimed the title.
Constitutional Law Professor Tony La Viña from the University of the Philippines said the “emotional baggage” from the feud within his clan may have contributed to the elder Binay’s ineffective campaign.
“That takes a toll. In campaigns, you have to be focused. You have to be single-minded. And so the father I’m sure was distracted about his children fighting in public even in front of him,” La Vina told CNN Philippines in an interview.
La Vina was referring to an event in April 28 wherein the Binay siblings demonstrated outrage and animosity towards each other in a heated squabble during a forum in the San Idelfonso Parish in Makati.
“It distracts you, if you’re disunited. The emotional baggage ,you could see that in the Binays,” the professor mused.
