THE camp of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM) yesterday said 73 of the country’s 81 governors are fully supporting the candidacy of the former senator and have vowed to give him a landslide victory in the May 9 elections.
Sixteen governors led by Quezon’s Danilo Suarez called on Marcos at the BBM headquarters in Mandaluyong on Sunday night to reaffirm their support for Marcos’ presidential bid.
“Iyung sinabi ni Chavit na almost 90 percent ng governors are already for Bongbong, totoo yun. Right now, we have a new president (What Chavit said that almost 90 percent of governors are for Bongbong, that is the truth. Right now, we have a new president),” Suarez said referring to the statement earlier of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Luis “Chavit” Singson, also president of the and League of Municipalities of the Philippines, that 90 percent of the governors are supporting the BBM-Sara UniTeam.
Isabela Gov. Rodito Albano said the UniTeam no longer needs to campaign in his province due to the committed support by his constituents to Marcos while Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas said he only needs to push for the protection of Marcos’ votes in his province.
Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap said majority of Boholanos will vote for Marcos.
Other governors present in the call were Dax Cua of Quirino; Susan Yap, Tarlac; Jose Riano, Romblon; Florencio Miraflores, Aklan; Philip Tan, Misamis Occidental; Eduardo Gadiano, Mindoro Occidental; Alexander Pimentel, Surigao del Sur; Bonifacio Lacwasan, Mountain Province; and Suharto Mangudadatu, Sultan Kudarat. Also present was former Rizal governor Jun Ynares III.
They claimed Marcos’ campaign for unity and his platforms prompted them to support him.
The Marcos camp also said the former senator is leading exit polls on the first day of overseas voting in Hong Kong and Qatar.
In a statement, the camp said “BBM (is) a runaway winner with 85 percent of OFW (overseas Filipino workers) votes in HK (Hong Kong) and 83 percent in Qatar.”
It said exit polls are considered “reliable predictors of an election result since the information obtained is from actual voters who cast their ballots on election day.”
But Commissioner George Garcia of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) cautioned the public on exit polls.
“Let us remember that, in the same manner as surveys, the exit polls are not very accurate. It could be done only to trend or to influence others,” he said.
“As long as they are not submitted to the Comelec, who commissioned it, what is the method used, and the totality of everything, anybody can easily make claims of such results,” he added.
The Comelec has said there are 93,886 registered voters in Hong Kong and 40,519 in Qatar.
The month-long absentee voting is from April 10 to May 9.
The Marcos camp quoted an unofficial tally done by a Bryan Calagui, a Filipino based in Hong Kong, who reportedly obtained the data from 5,000 voters who voted between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. of April 10.
Quoting Calagui, the Marcos camp said the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard bearer obtained 3,357 votes while Vice President Leni Robredo was a distant second with 65 votes, followed by Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso with 18 votes, and Sen. Manny Pacquiao with 15 votes. Sen. Panfilo Lacson reportedly did not have a vote yet. The votes totaled 3,455.
Some netizens to took to Facebook to oppose the supposed exit poll results from Hong Kong, quoting a bulletin that they said was issued by the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong that said only 3,285 voters cast their vote at the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Center, with three ballots rejected due to unnecessary markings or damage to the ballots, as opposed to the supposed 5,000.
The Marcos camp also quoted an Annaliza Segura, who it said is based in Qatar, as having conducted exit polls, and Marcos reportedly obtained 83 percent of the 566 votes cast or 538. — With Gerard Naval
