QUEZON City District 1 Rep. Vincent “Bingbong” Crisologo has confirmed he is running for mayor in the 2019 local elections to challenge Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte.
Crisologo said he is joining the mayoralty race under the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino party.
He said three-term District 2 Rep. Winston Castelo will be his running mate in the vice mayoralty race.
“Yes, I am filing my certificate of candidacy in October,” Crisologo told the Manila Standard.
After serving three consecutive terms as vice mayor, Belmonte, daughter of former mayor and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., previously said the next logical step for her was to run for mayor.
Belmonte said she is running with last-term District 3 Councilor Gian Carlo Sotto, son of Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto, as her vice mayor.
In May last year, the vice mayor and the younger Sotto left the Liberal Party and formally took their oath with the administration PDP-Laban before Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and the older Sotto.
But last Jan. 15, Pimentel, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and party vice chairman Alfonso Cusi appointed Crisologo as the PDP-Quezon City chapter president.
Because of his appointment, Crisologo said he is confident he would be the party’s standard-bearer in Quezon City.
City hall sources, however, said PDP has yet to call for a convention to choose a strong administration standard-bearer between Belmonte and Crisologo.
Other politician-sources, asking they not be named, said actor and television host Willie Revillame might join the mayoralty race.