BACOLOD—Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia earned a record-breaking 144,776 votes in the May 13 elections, the highest votes ever for a local candidate in this city—breaking his own record.
Leonardia was proclaimed the winner by the Board of Canvassers late Thursday morning, after the BOC decided to proclaim all the winning candidates only when the canvassing of votes was at 100 percent.
Canvassers chaired by acting Bacolod election registrar lawyer Ann Janette Lamban (second from right) with vice chairman Perico Hernaez (third from left) of COA and member lawyer Giovanni Alfonso Miraflores (right) of the Registry of Deeds at the SP Session Hall of Bacolod City Government Center on Thursday. Joining Leonardia was wife Elsa (second from left) and daughter Loren Kara (left).
Seven secure digital cards were corrupted and were only read midnight of Thursday. Leonardia was proclaimed together with his Grupo Progreso partymates, Rep. Greg Gasataya and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who also got big margins over their closest opponents, and 11 of the 12 councilors-elect.
Leonardia led by 63,528 votes, the biggest margin in Bacolod elections, over his closest opponent, former councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, who only got 81,248 votes.
Familiaran got 126,238 votes, or a difference of 34,417 over his rival, former vice mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, who got 91,821 votes.
Gasataya had 135,346 votes, or a lead of 50,641 over his challenger, former congressman Monico Puentevella, who had only 84,705 votes. Leonardia, who used to be congressman, also earned his sixth term as mayor, making him the longest- serving mayor of Bacolod.
In the city’s political history, previous mayors had only served two terms at most. The first time he joined politics and ran for councilor in 1988, Leonardia was No. 1 with more than 69,000 votes. He had more votes than the candidates for mayor and vice mayor, and it was then the biggest number of votes recorded.
When he first ran for mayor in 1995, Leonardia’s 84,000 votes was also the highest then. In succeeding elections, he broke his own records with 110,000 votes in 2007 and 120,000 votes in 2016.