(UPDATE)
Less than 12 hours after voting ended, the Commission on Elections officially proclaimed former President Joseph Estrada mayor-elect of the City of Manila.
Estrada’s running mate and incumbent Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno has also been officially proclaimed the winner of the vice-mayoral race.
The Comelec proclamation, made just after noon on Tuesday, had been a foregone conclusion since early Tuesday morning. By 2:00 a.m. Tuesday, Estrada already had 338,004 votes against his recent arch rival Mayor Alfredo Lim’s 304,595. Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, Estrada’s running mate, meanwhile led councilor Lou Veloso 388,345 to 231, 521.
The Comelec issued a resolution on Tuesday allowing local election boards to proclaim winning candidates early.
Even while Estrada’s win was yet to be made official, he already began burying the hatchet against Lim, who often referred to him as a convicted plunderer during the campaign. “I’m very forgiving,” he said in a Radio DZMM report. Lim was Local Government secretary during Estrada’s presidency but withdrew his support during a campaign to oust Estrada in 2001.
Estrada’s sons were also in a forgiving mood. San Juan Representative JV Ejercito Estrada said he was hurt by Lim’s attacks against his father. He said, though, that if the elder Estrada could forgive Lim, he could too.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada meanwhile said in an ABS-CBNNews.com report that he and Lim worked together at the Senate for three years and that they became friends. He said he didn’t pay Lim’s attacks much attention.
