One Cebu bets Winston Garcia and Nerissa Soon-Ruiz endorse Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (center) as their vice presidential candidate, but have yet to discuss their move with the rest of the party. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Despite One Cebu’s endorsement of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s presidential bid, chances are dim for Duterte supporters to return the favor.
Dr. Doloreich Dumaluan, deputy secretary general of Duterte’s party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), said One Cebu chairman Winston F. Garcia can’t expect an endorsement from Duterte because he is not a member of their party.
“Taas kaayo ang proseso ana aron ituboy siya (The process for him to get an endorsement is very long),” Dumaluan said at the sidelines of Duterte’s campaign sortie in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Sunday. The process includes public acknowledgment of a certificate of nomination from and acceptance to PDP-Laban, he added.
Duterte supporters in Cebu are also not keen to support Garcia, saying their commitment is for the Davao mayor only.
Garcia does not mind, though.
“I am not expecting anything else from him except that when he becomes president and I become governor of Cebu, he will give his wholehearted support to my infrastructure projects,” he told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
“We’re not even expecting money from PDP-Laban because they can’t afford our campaign here,” he added.
One Cebu endorsed Duterte over the weekend, about two weeks after the party dropped Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance.
Garcia said his meeting with Duterte at the Sugbutel Family Hotel last Saturday evening was “purely on programs and not personalities.”
He said One Cebu can stand on its own, but he believes that his dreams for Cebu province will become a reality if Duterte becomes president.
Among the projects that Garcia wants realized for Cebu are a new international container port, a second runway for the Mactan Cebu International Airport, a light
railway transit system in Metro Cebu, and a couple of reclamation projects.
DIFFERENT CHOICES
Rex J.M.A. Fernandez, campaign coordinator for Duterte in Cebu, said they were thankful for One Cebu’s support for their candidate. But they have “no capacity to campaign for the locals.”
“We can’t also tell our volunteers whom to vote (for) because they have their own preferences. Some might be supporting (Gov. Hilario III) Davide and some are for Winston,” he said.
Rowena Burden, coordinator of Cebu for Duterte volunteers, said each of them has a different choice among the local candidates.
“The Cebu for Duterte Volunteers movement was formed to campaign for Mayor Rody Duterte. We do not endorse nor will campaign for any local candidate,” she said in a text message.
She said, however, that they welcome any form of support for Duterte from anybody, whether individual supporters or political families.
Of the One Cebu members, Mandaue mayoralty bet Lolypop Ouano-Dizon was among the first to declare support for Duterte.
“Kung kinsa man ang suportahan sa One Cebu nga presidential bet ug mga senators, mao pud ang among suportahan,” she said in a speech during a rally that attracted about 8,000 supporters at the Barangay Opao gymnasium Sunday evening.
ONE MILLION VOTES
Meanwhile, Garcia took exception to Governor Davide’s statement calling him a liar for saying One Cebu can deliver a one-million vote difference for Duterte on May 9.
In a statement yesterday, Garcia said Cebu would deliver the votes just like in the 2004 presidential elections.
“Before Davide opens his mouth, he should read up on his political history. Cebu successfully delivered close to one million votes during the 2004 presidential elections. How much more when now we have Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, a Bisaya, as a presidential candidate. History will repeat itself. What happened to Fernando Poe, Jr. will happen again to Grace Poe,” Garcia said in a statement.
In his previous statement, Garcia said the “Cebuanos will do for Duterte what it did in 2004, . . . referring to the one-million vote difference which the (One Cebu) party delivered for the presidential winner of 2004.” It was this statement that prompted Davide and Cebu City mayoralty candidate Tomas Osmeña, both of the Liberal Party, to criticize Garcia.
Garcia yesterday reiterated his challenge to Davide for a debate, but added, “I know that he will refuse because he cannot defend his position.”
Garcia’s running mate Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, in the same statement yesterday, said the “facts would show who’s lying.”
She said Davide had claimed services at the district hospitals are for free, but she cited news reports about patients dying in district hospitals because their families lacked the money to pay for medicines and the services of an ambulance.
UNFAZED
Davide, for his part, said he was not threatened by the alliance between One Cebu and Duterte.
“Objectively, based on qualifications, competence, integrity, and experience, the best candidate for president is Mar Roxas,” said Davide, who is LP Cebu provincial chairman.
He said he was confident in his party mates and allies.
“They remain firm in their commitment to Roxas despite these developments now. The shifting of alliances is only happening in the other group. It’s not happening within our party. We have straight direction here,” said Davide.
To recall, however, Talisay City Mayor Johnny de los Reyes dropped his support for Roxas after he was snubbed during a sortie in Mandaue City last month. De los
Reyes announced his support for Duterte, but remains a member of the LP.
Support for the popular Davao mayor has been increasing in Cebu, which is home to 2.7 million voters. So far, Duterte has attracted supporters from all eight congressional districts in the province as well as in Cebu City.
BOHOL SORTIE
In Tagbilaran City in Bohol, a crowd of at least 60,000 greeted Duterte and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano when they arrived at past 6 p.m. on Sunday.
They had come from Ubay, where about 10,000 gathered inside the town’s gymnasium to welcome them.
Tagbilaran residents lined up the streets chanting “Duterte, Duterte,” as the mayor peeped through his car window, waving and greeting them.
The rally in Tagbilaran ended at 9:30 p.m. but Duterte and Cayetano proceeded to nearby Panglao town for another rally where at least 20,000 people were waiting for him.
In his speech, Duterte reiterated his vow to stop crime, illegal drugs and corruption in government within six months of his administration.
He cited illegal drugs as the root of all evil and warned drug lords and their runners “to watch out (because) I might shoot you.”
He criticized his opponents Mar Roxas, Sen. Grace Poe and Binay, whom he said had no specific plans of action on how to solve criminality, poverty and illegal drugs.
“I can talk about stopping corruption. I can talk about suppressing criminality. I can even kill the drug lords,” said the tough-talking mayor.
Dumaluan of PDP-Laban said one reason for Duterte’s popularity in Bohol is that the presidential candidate’s grandmother was from the province.
“The Boholanos know that Duterte has relatives in Bohol. His grandmother belongs to the Saligumba clan. The Boholanos would feel for a fellow Boholano,” he
added.