Defensor widens lead in QC mayoral race
QUEZON City mayoral candidate AnaKalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor has widened his lead over incumbent Joy Belmonte two weeks before the May 9 elections.
Based on the latest monthly tracking survey conducted by pollster Issues and Advocacy Center last April 4 to 15, Defensor gained more citizen support, increasing his voter preference by two percentage points to 54% from last month.
Belmonte’s rating did not move at 37%.
Defensor has thus stretched his edge over his opponent to 17 points.
Defensor’s vice mayoral running mate Councilor Winnie Castelo kept his wide margin over incumbent Gian Sotto, scoring 51% against the latter’s 34%, for an identical 17-percentage point advantage.
Defensor and Castelo thanked city residents for their continued support and asked them to keep it up for an honest, transparent, responsive, and proactive city government.
Defensor and Castelo are running under the Malayang Quezon City coalition, allied with the UniTeam tandem of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM) and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
All of the coalition’s candidates in the city’s six congressional districts, three of whom are incumbent lawmakers, have maintained or even increased their leads over their opponents from the Belmonte camp.
In the first district, reelectionist Rep. Onyx Crilosogo had 53% against Juan Carlos Atayde’s 32%.
Another reelectionist lawmaker, Precious Hipolito Castelo of the second district, gained three points, climbing to 56%, while Ralph Wendel Tulfo Jr.’s score fell by one point to 30%.
Like Castelo, Malayang Quezon City’s third reelectionist House member, Allan Benedict Reyes of the third district, increased his rating by three points to 55%, while Franz Pumaren went down by one point to 31%.
In the fourth district, Marvin Rillo of the Defensor-Castelo jumped by one point to 48%.
His opponent, incumbent Rep. Jesus Suntay of the Belmonte ticket, lost four points, down to 41%.
In the sixth district, former congressman Bingbong Crisologo picked up two more points, climbing to 53%, while Marvic Co-Pilar gained a point to go up to 36%.
