What happened to Angelito "Jett" Reyes shouldn't be allowed to happen to anyone aspiring to serve his community. Declared duly elected congressman of the second district of Taguig by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal by a margin of a mere 37 votes in February, he has two months to serve until the next elections come around.

That is, if the loser, Henry Duenas, does not elevate the case (again) to the Supreme Court, and even if he’s not joining the race this time to give way to Freddie Tinga, mayor of the city. Mr. Reyes is not taking any chances. Although he feels that the real score is closer to 1,000-plus votes over his rival, he is running again, with no bitterness in his heart but a healthy dose of optimism that lightning won’t strike twice.

Not that he and his party, Lingkod Taguig, are agog. Even as a newcomer in politics – his father is Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes – and running as a reelectionist, he has seen how he was done in by the other side. Some 3,600 names out of a voting population of 270,000 were used more than once, while 35,000 had questionable addresses. Registrants added a Sr. or a Jr. to their name, 50 to 100 of them lived in one house, and – senior citizens will love this – there are 600 centenarians (born 1901) alive and voting in Taguig!

If he can take a suggestion, the reelectionist should create a new slogan: Move to Taguig and live forever.

In another quirky election case, Lilia Pineda’s protest over Gov. Ed Panlilio of Pampanga turned matters upside-down when a recount of the votes showed that the real winner is neither Ms. Pineda nor Fr. Panlilio – but Mark Lapid!

But because Mr. Lapid was not a petitioner, his victory is nothing but a footnote. You could shrug it off as a twist of fate, in spite of a margin of thousands of votes. (Ms. Pineda’s lead was 20,000-plus over Fr. Panlilio’s.)

It seems Mark Lapid is happy holding the power of the purse over the Department of Tourism as general manager of the newly named Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (formerly Philippine Tourism Authority).