Francis Zamora, James Yap-led 'All-Stars' win San Juan City posts

James Yap will become part of the San Juan City council. PBA Images (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Past basketball stars led by Mayor Francis Zamora and even current PBA superstar James Yap will be making their way to the San Juan City government as they won electoral seats during the recently concluded elections.

Zamora, Yap and the rest of the Team Makabagong San Juan were proclaimed the winners of the city elections following the close of the canvassing period within the city late Monday night at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

Zamora, who was the captain for La Salle during the late 90's and won two UAAP titles, was reelected as the city chief after amassing an overwhelming lead over runner-up Jun Usman.

With all the election returns counted, Zamora got 66,883 votes compared to only 9,413 from Usman.

Yap, on the other hand, finished fourth in the councilor race for San Juan City's first district with 21,427 votes, well within the six-councilman cutoff for the said district.

The Rain Or Shine star skipped the entire PBA Governors' Cup last season to concentrate on his bid to join the city council.

Yap's former longtime teammate Paul Artadi was reelected after placing second for District 1 with 23,247 votes.

Actor Ervic Vijandre, who previously suited up for the GenSan Warriors in the MPBL, came in fifth with 18,016 votes.

On the other hand, Don Allado, Zamora's fellow former Green Archer, barely made the six-man cut for the second district as he placed sixth in the district with 20,269 votes.

However, he was way ahead of seventh placer Mary Joy Leoy, who only got 15,193 votes.

The so-called "All-Stars" winning electoral seats is one of the highlights of Team Zamora's domination of the San Juan City elections that saw all of its members winning seats, including Warren Villa edging PBA legend Philip Cezar also by a huge margin in the vice mayoralty race.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno