Quisumbing on President Duterte and Inday Sara’s clashing endorsements: What matters is the genuine intent to help

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — For incumbent Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing, it doesn’t matter which candidate is being endorsed by either the presidential daughter or by the president.

Quisumbing, who hosted the campaign sortie of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) of presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Thursday morning, March 21, 2019, said what is important is the support the candidate is willing to give to her father’s programs.

“Whether our hands were raised or not [by President Duterte or mayor Sara], what’s important is that [the candidate is] genuine in helping the fight against corruption and drugs. As long as [candidates being endorsed] genuinely push for anti-corruption and anti-drugs [campaigns], so be it. Many hands make work light,” Quisumbing said when asked about the endorsement of his opponent’s slate by the president.

Quisumbing is vying for reelection against former mayor and now Cebu Sixth District representative Jonas Cortes.

Quisumbing’s slate, Hugpong Mandauehanon sa Pagbabago (HMP), is allied with Duterte-Carpio’s  HNP while Cortes’ camp is being backed by the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) of President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father.

Cortes and his slate were present and endorsed during the PDP-Laban campaign sortie last February 24, 2019 at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City.

“It is important for us that she (Duterte-Carpio) sees us as a genuine party that helps fulfil the promises of the president’s administration as far as anti-corruption and fighting illegal drugs is concerned,” said Quisumbing, who, in a speech during the caravan, addressed Duterte-Carpio as the “next president.”

Read more: Mandaue mayor addresses HNP founder Sara Duterte as ‘the next president’

The HNP brought to Cebu the campaign caravan of its 13 senatorial candidates.

Quisumbing, during his pledge of support speech, said that it is important to elect senators that will help President Duterte in his next three years in office.

The HNP-endorsed senatorial aspirants are incumbent senators Sonny Angara, JV Ejercito, Koko Pimentel and Cynthia Villar; former special assistant to the president Bong Go; former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino; retired Police General and former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa; former broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad; Maguindanao Representative Zajid Mangudadato; Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos; Taguig City Representative Pia Cayetano; and former senators Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada.

Present in the sortie in Mandaue City were Dela Rosa, Manicad, Marcos, Estrada and Tolentino. Angara was represented by his wife, Tootsie, while Go was represented by actor Bayani Agbayani.

Aside from Cebu City and Mandaue City candidates, San Fernando town mayoral bet Ruben Feliciano also attended the sortie in Mandaue City.

Feliciano is running against incumbent town Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya, who was endorsed by the president last February.

Aside from the local candidates in Mandaue City, also noted to have attended the event were former Cebu City North District Representative Cutie Del Mar, daughter of incumbent Representative Raul Del Mar. The older Del Mar is vying for reelection against PDP-Laban candidate Richard Yap.

On Thursday afternoon, the slate of Partido Barug, where Yap belongs to, hosted the HNP campaign caravan at the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) Convention Center in Mabolo, Cebu City. /bmjo