MABALACAT CITY – A mock election facilitated by the biggest Catholic university in Central Luzon shows that re-electionists Mayor Crisostomo Garbo and Vice Mayor Gerald Aquino continue to be the top choices for this city’s elective posts.
On May 2, 2022, Holy Angel University released the official tally of survey results from its Mock Elections for Local Candidates (MELC), conducted on 3,336 respondents who are all students and employees of the university. They are all active registered voters for the May 9, 2022 polls, and a total of 480 individuals are from Mabalacat City.
HAU’s MELC showed that incumbent City Mayor Crisostomo Garbo is in a wide lead with over 51.25% (246 votes), while undecided voters accrue 35% or 168 votes. Meanwhile, Marino Morales received 9.16% (44 votes), while Diosdado Pangilinan garnered 4.58% (22 votes) of the total number of respondents.
Incumbent City Vice Mayor Gerald Aquino also tops by a huge margin over his opponent as he garners 48.95% (235 votes) of the total respondents. Undecided voters accrue at second with 205 votes while his contender, Christian Halili, is at far third with only 8.33% (40 votes).
On the official Facebook account of HAU, the institution captioned: “Dahil nalalapit na ang #Halalan2022 sa darating na May 9, huwag kakalimutan na ang ating mga boto ang magsisilbing boses sa pagpili at pagluklok ng mga susunod na lider para sa ating lalawigan.”
For his part, Mayor Garbo and Vice Mayor Aquino expressed their elation over the outcome of the university’s mock election. The city mayor said that legit surveys and mock elections coming from reputable institutions are as important as voter turnouts since they echo the sentiments of the people.”
“Totoo po na nakakataba ng puso ang mga naglalabasang mga valid surveys and veritable mock elections kung saan ang buong Team MCG po ay nangunguna. Ang hamon po para sa atin ay i-convert ang mga survey results na ito into actual votes,” said Garbo.
Furthermore, Mayor Garbo urged every Mabalaqueños to be vigilant about fake news and disinformation that are being peddled and circulated on digital media against Team MCG, which are intended for dirty politicking.
“Malaki po ang tiwala natin sa tapat at makabuluhang pagpasya ng mga Mabalaqueños sa kanilang pagpili ng mga iluluklok sa city hall. Nawa’y maging batayan rin natin ang kung sinu-sino ang mga nanatili at tumindig sa tabi ng mga Mabalaqueño lalo na ngayong panahon ng pandemya,” said Garbo.
“Kami sa Team MCG ay nagpapasalamat sa patuloy na pagtitiwala ng ating mga ka-Mabalaqueños sa uri ng liderato at pamamahala natin sa Mabalacat City. Pinagsisikapan po namin na makuha ang inyong pag-ayon sa pamamagitan ng maayos na serbisyo at tapat na pamamahala,” the city mayor said.