Bistek backed my opponent, says Joy Belmonte

Running mates when they first ran together for the top local positions in Quezon City in 2010, Herbert Bautista and Joy Belmonte's political partnership gradually fell apart with the mayor supporting his vice mayor's opponent in the last elections.

In an interview on "Bawal ang Pasaway kay Mareng Winnie", the incumbent Mayor Joy Belmonte cited differences  in governance styles as the reason for the political split with the former local chief executive.

Belmonte said she eventually felt left out while serving as Bautista's vice mayor.

"Sa unang termino po namin ni Mayor Herbert Bautista, tingin ko I was in because we were running mates," Belmonte said.

"Kaya lang habang tumagal ang panahon, napansin po namin na magkaiba ang aming pananaw patungkol po sa aming mga trabaho," she added.

"Kadulu-duluhan naghiwalay na kami, hindi na po ako ang kaniyang sinuportahan bilang mayor ng lungsod ng Quezon," Belmonte said.

Asked who Bautista backed in the last elections, Belmonte said, "My opponent."

While she didn't name the other candidate Bautista supported, it was former Quezon City Representative Bingbong Crisologo who placed second in the 2019 polls.

Belmonte said there were moves inside city hall against her re-election in 2022.

"Siguro yung predecessor ko may mga tao pa siya na nandito na permanent na I was willing to work with because I'm not a vindictive person... pero baka 'yung agenda nila ay pabagsakin ako, to make me look bad. There are moves for me to be a one-term mayor," Belmonte said.

Still, Belmonte said that it was actually Bautista—not her father former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte—who encouraged her to enter the politics.

"It was Mayor Bautista that asked me to join. I was actually a teacher at the University of the Philippines. At that time, my father and Mayor Bautista were very close. Mayor Bautista was the vice mayor of my father for nine years," Belmonte said.

"Mayor Bautista asked me to run with him because he thought it would help him to have a Belmonte as a running mate," she added. —NB, GMA News