UCAMPAIGN PITCH. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama sells both his slate and the UNA lineup headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay who sat behind him to voters attending the UNA rally at Plaza Independencia. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Team Rama played host to Vice President Jejomar Binay and his United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) slate as they held their campaign sortie at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Binay and his runningmate Sen. Gringo Honasan led the UNA rally together with UNA’s senatorial slate and Team Rama headed by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who introduced the vice president as “the most prepared” and the country’s “next president.”
The rally came hours after One Cebu confirmed that it severed ties with UNA for failing to coordinate with them and including them in their campaign sorties in Cebu.
When Cebu Daily News asked UNA Visayas Secretary General and Team Rama council candidate Joy Pesquera if One Cebu members were present, her only answer was “this is a Team Rama event.”
During the rally, each of the UNA senatorial aspirants and their representatives shared details of their platforms to the crowd of mostly senior citizens, homeowners associations and barangay officials.
The vice president’s daughter Sen. Nancy Binay also attended the rally.
In his speech, Binay recalled his visit to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) earlier in the afternoon and lamented about the sorry state of the city hospital with patients waiting in lobbies and corridors.
“Bakit ganito? Kasi ang namumuno, hindi marunong mamuno. Walang malasakit sa mahihirap… Papalitan natin ang ganyan (Why is it that way? Because the leaders don’t know how to lead. No compassion for the poor. We will replace that)
What we need is performance, hindi pangako (not promises),” he told the crowd.
Binay discussed his programs in Makati where he served as mayor for several years.
He promised to eliminate unqualified beneficiaries of the 4Ps program and to expand it to 5Ps — the 5th P being “pustiso (dentures)” since he said senior citizens in Makati City receive free dentures from the Makati City government.
Binay’s running mate Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who introduced Mayor Rama as a “fighter”, said UNA’s top priority in government is to address criminality.
Other UNA candidates who attended the rally were councilor Alma Moreno, broadcaster Rey Langit, Allan Montaño, Leo Napeñas and Martin Romualdez who each talked to the Cebuano crowd.
Princess Jacel Kiram and Manny Pacquiao also had representatives who talked about their platforms.