Fil-Am candidates share wins and losses in Bay Area elections

By Rommel Conclara, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

Nov. 6, 2014

DALY CITY, Calif. – Friends, family and supporters gather in Daly City to support Fil-Am candidates Ray Buenaventura and Mike Guingona.

After waiting almost all night, both were relieved to find out that they will be re-elected to the City Council of Daly City.

“It looks like I’ll be in there for another term,” said Buenaventura. “So I’m exhausted because of all the campaigning, but I’m really just happy to see the numbers and so far it turned out great.”

“I’m energized,” said Guingona. “I’m happy and I look forward to another four years of serving my people in Daly City.”

Buenaventura and Guingona said they are thankful for the support from the Filipino community.

“I hope that the trend continues that Filipino-Americans will continue to vote and be involved in the process,” said Buenaventura. “Again we’re 1.5 million strong, so let’s keep that momentum and let’s get all the people to participate in the process.”

“I think the Filipino community comes together and actually realizes that they have a lot of power if they exercise their vote correctly,” said Guingona. “That we could really make a difference.”

Unfortunately not every Fil-Am candidate won the election. Robert Bernardo came close to winning his re-election bid for San Mateo County Harbor District.

“I think we ran a really good race, a very aggressive race, and we feel really good with what we did,” said Bernardo.

Even though he did not win, he supports Buenaventura and Guingona and future Filipino candidates.

Other notable Filipino-Americans who won in the Bay Area, including Assembly member Rob Bonta and Milpitas Mayor Joe Esteves. Partial and unofficial results also show Hydra Mendoza holding on to the third and final seat for San Francisco School Board.