Sorsogon governor declares support for Binay

SORSOGON CITY, Philippines – After expressing support for administration candidate Mar Roxas late last year and Sen. Grace Poe just recently, Sorsogon Gov. Raul Lee jumped ship anew and is now backing the candidacy of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Lee raised the hand of Binay during a campaign rally of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) at the Sorsogon Provincial Gym last Wednesday.

Lee, however, said they are supporting the vice presidential bid of Sen. Francis Escudero, who hails from Sorsogon, and not Binay’s runningmate Sen. Gregorio Honasan II, who is also a Bicolano from Sorsogon.

Lee is provincial chairman of UNA.

The governor has promised to deliver a majority of Sorsogon’s 425,025 votes for Binay but not for Honasan.

Honasan was not present during Wednesday’s campaign sortie of UNA here.

“He (Honasan) will understand. He’s a personal friend, but he knows that we’ve had a longer association with Escudero,” Lee said.

Escudero placed third in the latest vice presidential surveys, while Honasan is trailing far behind.

In 2010, Lee supported Binay’s candidacy for vice president, where the latter won over Roxas, 174,865 votes against 80,388 votes.

Last Monday, the camp of Poe reported that Lee is one of the Bicol governors who had vowed to support her.

In September last year, Lee expressed his support for Roxas.

More Binay supporters

Re-electionist Pangasinan first district Rep. Jesus Celeste said he is also firm in supporting Binay’s presidential bid.

In an interview over dwIZ Dagupan, Celeste said he is keeping his promise to help Binay, although his ally-mayors are supporting other presidential aspirants.

He said his mayors are given the freedom to choose who they want to support.

Pangasinan’s first district mayors are reportedly behind Poe.

Honasan on climate change

Moving away from his platform that centers on anti-crime and poverty reduction, Honasan yesterday called on the public to join efforts to address climate change.

In a statement, Honasan said there is a need to raise public awareness on climate change and push for renewable sources of energy like solar, wind and wave technology.

“The present generation should not only focus on the protection of the environment, but also in balancing public interest on climate change,” he said.

“If we can protect our environment and at the same time balance public interest, this can very well be translated to public policy,” he added.

Honasan – who has supported measures such as the Clean Air Act, Solid Waste Management Act and the bill on Land Use Policy – lauded efforts of disaster managers at the local level in improving disaster response protocols.

He recommended that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council focus more on improving its coordinating mechanisms to make sure that disaster protocols are followed and understood by local chief executives down to the barangays.  – With Eva Visperas, Janvic Mateo