PDP-Laban: Prepare to have first Mindanaoan president

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Mindanaoans should prepare to see the first president from Mindanao with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte's lead in pre-elections survey, the mayor's partymate said during a visit to the city.

 

“With the recent surveys in the presidential election we are now in a very unique situation that we are in the best position to elect the first Mindanaonon president of the Republic of the Philippines,” Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) Laban, said.

 

Pimentel said he is confident that Duterte's survey numbers will continue to surge even against closest rival Sen. Grace Poe. Duterte, popular for his image of being tough on crime, has promised to bring the country towards federalism -- a reform that former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also championed. 

 

“Based on the projection of the political experts, mathematics and survey experts, Duterte could even reach 36 to 38 percent based on the trending,” Sen. Pimentel said, adding four of the presidential aspirants started with virtually similar survey ratings at 25 percent.

 

Less than a month before elections, Duterte has taken the lead over Poe, with whom he was in a statistical tie in mid-March. In a Social Weather Stations survey released last week, Duterte had a score of 27 percent against Poe's 23 percent.

 

“Let us grasp the day to produce the first Mindanaonon president of the Republic of the Philippines,” Pimentel said. “Congratulations to us all.”

 

Alongside rising survey numbers, Duterte has also been the target of criticism from rivals and on social media for controversial statements on women and on candidates running against him. He has also been criticized for saying the Philippines should not insist on ownership of parts of the South China Sea that Manila claims and refers to as the West Philippine Sea.

 

Pimentel, who was here Saturday appealed to Mindanao voters should take advantage of the fact that there is a strong Mindanaonon who is also well accepted in Visayas and Luzon.

 

“We are very confident the Mindanao should prepare to be at the center stage of the next administration,” Pimentel said.

 

Pimentel said Duterte will tap a number of Mindanaons for his Cabinet but refused to reveal names.

 

He also assailed Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was here Friday with the United Nationalist Alliance, for campaign sorties in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

 

Pimentel said Binay, former PDP stalwart, turned his back on PDP Laban between 2013 and 2014 to form his own party. “He left us and now who replaced him is the man who will defeat him.”

 

Binay, in a meeting with Muslim religious leaders from Sulu, Basilan and this city, warned that there would be no peace in strife-torn parts of Mindanao under a Duterte administration.