PDP-Laban to field Rep. Lopez in 2022 Manila mayor race

PDP-Laban named Manila 1st District Representative Manuel Luis Lopez as its official candidate for mayor in Manila, according to party secretary general Melvin Matibag.

Matibag, who is identified with the party faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, said President Rodrigo Duterte himself endorsed the candidacy of Lopez as Manila mayor.

"Manila 1st District Rep. Manuel Luis Lopez has been named as PDP Laban’s official candidate for mayor in Manila with no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, who is also PDP Laban chairman, proclaiming the lawmaker’s run for Manila’s mayoralty race," Matibag said in a statement.

In 2019, Lopez won as 1st District Representative  of Manila. He was facing the electoral protest of former lawmaker Benjamin Asilo, who alleged that he was cheated.

But the  House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) junked the electoral protest and upheld the victory of Lopez in the 2019 elections.—LDF, GMA News