Arroyo gov’t execs support Robredo

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WHILE former president Gloria Arroyo is backing the candidacy of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., 47 former officials of her administration have endorsed the presidential bid of opposition candidate Vice President Leni Robredo, saying the country needs “a strong woman in the house to rekindle our energy and resolve.”

“Leni Robredo represents the tough love of our mothers. She has the tenacious will to persuade. She drives our communities along the path of resilience. She listens to the high and low. She quiets down the babel of voices to bring our aspirations together,” the group said in a statement.

The group’s endorsement came after several former Cabinet members and senior officials of the Ramos administration declared their support for Robredo’s bid even if their former their former boss, ex-President Fidel V. Ramos, is seen to be allied with the son of the late dictator. Earlier this month, almost a hundred former senior officials of the Aquino administration also backed Robredo.

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Meanwhile, Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao who is also seeking the presidency visited the Balintawak and Farmers markets in Quezon City to find out how an ordinary person can make ends meet with P5,000 in his pocket.

He said P5,000 is not enough to buy food for a month for a family of four, for a minimum wage earner. The boxing icon was able to buy 15 kilos of rice, pork, chicken, eggs, dried fish and “galunggong,” canned goods like sardines and corned beef, noodles, soy sauce, cooking oil, ketchup, onions, garlic, tomatoes, sugar, milk, instant coffee and some leafy vegetables and fruits.

In Batangas, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said one of his rivals in the presidential race feels alluded to when he talks about “magnanakaw (thief)” during campaign rallies, and asked a common friend to request the senator to stop the attacks.

“Sabi ko give me proof na meron akong ina-attack na presidential candidate. Wala. Kapag sinabi kong galit kami sa magnanakaw, galit kami sa magnanakaw. Walang tao. Kung may tinatamaan, hindi namin kasalanan ni SP (Senate President and running mate Vicente Sotto III) yan (I told him to give me proof that I am attacking a presidential candidate. None.

When I say that we are angry at thieves, we are angry at thieves. I am not referring to anyone. If there is someone being alluded to, it not my and the SP’s fault),” Lacson said at the sidelines of their campaign sortie in Batangas.

REUNITED

Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, standard bearer of Aksyon Demokratiko, and his running mate Willie Ong were reunited in the party’s campaign sortie in Marikina City, with Moreno insisting all is well despite the move of some groups to pair him with Marcos’ running mate, Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sarah Duterte-Carpio.

“Di po kami maghihiwalay (We will not part ways),” he told reporters, reiterating he will not ditch Ong who did not join him in the party’s three-day sortie in Mindanao.

For the Marcos camp, House majority leader Martin Romualdez said the warm reception during sorties, endorsements from groups. and high survey ratings of Marcos and Duterte-Carpio are “signs of a potential landslide victory.”

Romualdez, president of the Lakas-CMD party and campaign manager of Duterte-Carpio, said many local officials have also been adding their voice and moving towards the “BBM-Sara bandwagon” because of their popularity and potential win.

“Judging from the warm reception and the endorsements we received, Solid North is indeed solid behind our UniTeam candidates. Combined with the wide support Mayor Sara and BBM enjoy in Mindanao, where their survey scores are above 80 percent, and in the Visayas, we see signs of a potential landslide victory for our candidates,” he said.

In Batangas on Tuesday, Gov. Hermilando Mandanas said his province gives its “all-out support” for the UniTeam.

San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said the UniTeam. Referring to Marcos, Zamora said, “I asked him if I could introduce San Juan as his second home. He told me, ‘Mayor, San Juan is not my second home, it is my first home because from the day I was born until we moved to Malacañang, I lived in San Juan.’”

On his good friend Duterte-Carpio, Zamora said: “I’ve seen how she works as mayor. I’ve seen how she has handled Davao City. It also matters how her father President Duterte has supported San Juan during the pandemic.”

PEOPLE’S MONEY

The Arroyo officials backing Robredo, including some members of the “Hyatt 10” which was composed of Cabinet members who resigned from their posts in 2005, said they will vote for Robredo because she has been leading the country in the face of the pandemic “and other fronts.”

“She is honest with the people’s money. Our tasks are exceedingly complex and challenging. Health has moved to the center of our concerns. Remote work, pandemic-proof systems, and digital commerce are today’s bywords. We must be abreast of the new ways of earning and living. As challenges mount, Leni Robredo does more in less time,” they said.

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The signatories include former presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye; former secretaries Teresita Deles (peace process), Florencio Abad (budget), Manuel Dayrit (health), Jesli Lapus and Edilberto de Jesus (education), and Avelino Cruz (defense); former Office of the President communications director Silvestre Afable Jr.; and Imelda Nicolas, former chair of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

Early this week, four former senators and 12 former government officials and Catholic groups said they are backing Robredo. On Tuesday, former Sen. Serge Osmeña announced that he was withdrawing his support for Moreno in favor of Robredo after the mayor said he has no plan to give up President Duterte to the International Criminal Court if he wins.

Yesterday, spiritual leaders of the Couples for Christ expressed support for Robredo’s bid, marking the first time that the Catholic movement has backed a specific candidate in an elections.

“We began our discussion of the criteria on the premise and realization that there is no perfect candidate. At the end of our prayerful immersion and meaningful discussion, the members of the IC (international council) reached the decision to support the presidential candidacy of Leni Robredo,” said CFC IC.

“Those of you who have been with CFC for many years will realize that this is the first time the International Council is announcing its support, based on individual IC member choices, for a particular candidate,” they added.

The CFC officials said members are free to choose their candidates.

“Thus, we are not imposing this decision on anyone. We recognize that the very essence of democracy is the freedom of everyone to express their own views, to make their own choices and to demand, if not agreement, at least respect for their decisions,” they said.
Robredo and running mate Sen. Francis Pangilinan got the endorsement of lay and religious representatives of the Vincentian Family in the Philippines.

“As members of the Vincentian Family, inspired by the example of St. Vincent de Paul, who dedicated his life to uplift the poor in his time, we have chosen to back the candidates who have consistently shown that they are on the side of the poor and the marginalized, and have lived by Christian ideals and Vincentian convictions,” the group said.

PLATFORM

Lacson said he need not use other candidates’ weaknesses just to gain mileage as he and Sotto are not into gutter politics.

“We do not use anyone. We just present our platform [of government]),” he said in Filipino.
Sotto said he is eager to face his rivals in upcoming debates which are the best venues to understand a candidate’s perspective on various matters.

Lacson said debates can bring out a candidate’s true character.

“Bukod sa knowledge, ang lumalabas sa debate at forum, character. Lalo ang biglaang tanong, nang pinakita ang pic ng Malacañang, una ko naisip ‘public servant’… Somebody said ‘seat of power’, another said ‘Palasyo.’ Doon makikita mo ang biglang pag-iisip, ano ang instinctive kapag nakita ang larawan (Aside from knowledge, debates and forum bring out character, especially in suprise questions. When we were shown a picture of Malacañang, the first thing that came to my mind was ‘public servant’…Somebody said ‘seat of power’, while another said ‘Palace’. It is here that we can see the instinctive thinking of a person once you him or her a picture),” Lacson said.

Moreno, in Marikina, called for amending the party-list system which he said is being used as a vehicle by the moneyed and influential to gain entry to politics.

He said the real underprivileged sectors in society such as farmers, fishermen and the urban poor are in danger of losing their voice with the entry of the moneyed in the party-list system.

Moreno made the statement in a brief interview with reporters in Marikina after his team’s motorcade and dialogue with multi-sectoral groups in the city.

He also said that if elected president, he would push for amending the 1987 Constitution to increase the number of senators to 34 from 24. — With Raymond Africa, Ashzel Hachero, Jocelyn Montemayor and Christian Oineza

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