DESPITE a low voter turnout that dismayed the Commission on Elections chief, the Comelec on Sunday proclaimed the son of Justice Secretary Jesus “Boying” Remulla as the winner in the special elections held to fill the post of 7th District Representative that he vacated when he assumed the DOJ top post.
Crispin Diego “Ping” Remulla won by landslide Saturday’s special elections, handily beating his closest rival, former Trece Martires City Mayor Melencio de Sagun Jr., with his 98,474 votes versus Sagun’s 46,530.
The older Remulla was appointed in 2022 by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the Department of Justice.
Asked about his priority agenda in Congress, the new congressman replied, according to CNN Philippines’s report “Price adjustment sa [for] minimum wage sa aming [in our] province because the expenses here are very close to the ones in Metro Manila, but minimum wage here is actually lower.”
CNN Philippines, meanwhile, quoted Comelec Chairman George Garcia as ruing the low turnout: “To a certain extent, nakakapanghinayang ‘yung nagagastos na pondo ng taongbayan tapos ang boboto lang ay kakaunti [it is regrettable that our people’s funds are being spent but only few will vote],” he said.
Only 149,581 or only 42.11 percent of the 355,184 registered voters in the 7th legislative district took part in the special elections, per Comelec.
The municipalities of Amadeo, Indang and Tanza and Trece Martires City comprise the 7th District.