Erap looking for running mate

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada is set to commission a survey to enable him to choose the best candidate for vice mayor as his running mate for next year’s elections.

He said he was abandoned by Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, his running mate in the 2016 polls, that same year.

“I will run for mayor without her. She left  me hanging. I will conduct a survey as to who will be my vice mayoral tandem,” Estrada said yesterday.

Estrada said Lacuna has been seen in the company of his former vice mayor, Isko Moreno, who reportedly plans to run for mayor in 2019.

He said he is ready for a possible four-way race in the city next year.

The Manila mayor said he welcomes reports that former senator Manuel Villar, former mayor Alfredo Lim and Moreno plan to run for mayor next year.

Lim lost to Estrada in the 2013 and 2016 mayoral races. He was also among those who were defeated by Estrada in the 1998 presidential elections.

As for Villar, a source in his camp said the report “is absolutely untrue.”

Moreno failed to snag a Senate seat in the 2016 elections.