For the camp of Taguig City mayor-elect Ma. Laarni “Lani” Cayetano, ex-Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Dante Tiñga’s defeat in the mayoralty race is nothing new.

"Dante Tiñga has been rejected as mayoralty candidate 2 times over. He ran in 1998 and lost. He ran this year 2010 and lost. It’s obvious that Taguigeños never wanted him as mayor,” Cayetano spokesperson Darwin Bernabe Icay said Wednesday.

Aside from these stinging statements, Icay, the District 1 councilor, further advised the retired Justice to stop being a sore loser and just accept the people’s mandate. It’s his second election defeat, after all.

Icay pointed out that it’s been more than a month since the May 10 automated polls concluded and that such “political noise” should be stopped.

Mayor-elect Cayetano, the wife of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, beat ex-Justice Tiñga by a margin of 2,420 votes. Tiñga is the father of outgoing three-term mayor and elected 2nd district congressman, Freddie Tiñga.

Meanwhile, Icay said the rally in front of the Taguig City Hall on Tuesday morning was just staged by some supporters of the defeated mayoral candidate in an attempt to drum up support for the election protest filed by the latter.

Aside from the rally, loyal councilors allied with the Tiñgas, also gave their privilege speeches at the city council lambasting the Cayetanos for filing an election protest against the Councilors.

“It was just part of a planned grandstanding by the city councilors hoping that they can draw support from the people for the protest they filed against Mayor-elect Cayetano.

“It was also a tactic to deflect the negative criticism against Vice Mayor George Elias and the Tiñga Councilors who have orchestrated and continue to orchestrate midnight ordinances which we suspect may be vulnerable to graft and corruption,” Icay said.

Among these “midnight ordinances” is the tax amnesty which was “done in haste, with no study and paperwork, yet still passed,” he bared.

Team Cayetano earlier filed election protests against the Tiñgas for the widespread fraud involving the positions of Vice Mayor, Congressman, and Councilors.

The team also filed charges against acting Treasurer’s Office chief Teresita Elias for disobeying the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and allowing ballot boxes to be unguarded and moved to an area which is less secure. She is the wife of Vice Mayor Elias, who is an ally of the Tiñgas.