MANILA, Philippines – In Malabon City, two couples are fighting for control of city hall and representation at the House of Representatives in the 2025 elections.
Malabon Representative Josephine Veronique “Jaye” Lacson-Noel will challenge reelectionist Mayor Jeannie Sandoval, who is seeking a second term. Noel is expected to file her certificate of candidacy on Monday, October 7.
The two mayoral candidates’ husbands — former An Waray congressman Florencio “Bem” Noel and former Malabon congressman Ricky Sandoval — are seeking a comeback at the House of Representatives as Malabon representative.
Sandoval is the first female mayor of Malabon. She first ran for mayor in 2004 but lost to the incumbent, Canuto “Tito” Oreta. She served as vice mayor from 2013 to 2019, then ran against then-reelectionist mayor Antolin “Lenlen” Oreta III but lost.
Noel, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), first served as Malabon-Navotas congresswoman in 2007, then as Malabon congresswoman from 2010 to 2016, and 2019 to the present.
Noel and Sandoval ran as a tandem in the 2016 mayoral and vice mayoral race in Malabon, but Noel lost to Oreta.
Florencio served as An Waray congressman from 2004 to 2013, and from 2019 until he got unseated in 2023 after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) invalidated An Waray’s credentials.
Ricky has not held an elective post since he lost his House reelection bid to Lacson-Noel in 2019. He served as Malabon-Navotas representative from 1998 to 2007, and as Malabon representative from 2016 to 2019. He was a member of PDP-Laban but moved to Lakas-CMD in February this year.
3-way House race
It will be a three-way congressional race in Malabon. Former mayor Oreta — earlier believed to be running for mayor — was the first to file his certificate of candidacy for congressman on Wednesday, October 2.
Oreta took a break from politics after his third successive term as mayor ended in 2022. Prior to that, he served as Malabon councilor and vice mayor. His brother, then-councilor Enzo Oreta, ran in 2022 to succeed him but lost to Sandoval.
Oreta, first cousin of the late former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, was a member of the Liberal Party (LP) until he moved to the National Unity Party (NUP) in July. The NUP is part of the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.-led coalition for the 2025 elections, Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas.
Oreta is the son of the late former senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta and businessman Antolin Oreta Jr. Two of his uncles were past Malabon mayors: the late Prospero “Peng” Oreta and the late Canuto “Tito” Oreta, whom then-vice mayor Lenlen succeeded when Tito died in 2012.
In 2019, Oreta won his third term as mayor despite threats from then-president Rodrigo Duterte who supported the bid of his rival, Jeannie Sandoval. Duterte had threatened to have Oreta arrested if he failed to end the drug problem in the city within a month.
At the time, Oreta noted that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency itself had recognized the city’s efforts “on multiple occasions,” and that many of the city’s 21 barangays had been cleared of drugs.
The question now is, whose candidacies will the administration coalition support? The NUP and Lakas-CMD are administration coalition members and there is no “equity of the incumbent” rule to apply in relation to the congressional race, as Oreta and Sandoval are not reelectionist congressmen. – with a report from James Patrick Cruz/Rappler.com
