Annabelle won't bring Mike to PMP

CEBU, Philippines - Actress and talent manager Annabelle Rama has joined the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada the other day, but said she will not bring her cousin, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, to PMP despite the latter still awaiting official endorsement from the Liberal Party (LP).

In an interview with The Freeman yesterday, Annabelle said she will not interfere with the mayor’s plans because she is still new in politics.

“Bag-o lang ko’ng politician, di ko magsamok-samok. Mas maayo siyang mag-desisyon kaysa mag-advise ko nga tuga-tuga. But I will support him,” she said.

Annabelle is running for Congress in the North District under Team Rama.

PMP is among the political parties under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Annabelle said she picked PMP-UNA because Estrada is a family friend. She also supports Estrada’s pro-poor campaign. She said that if Estrada is “Erap para sa mahirap (Erap is for the poor),” she is the hope of the masses or “Paglaum sa mga kabus.”

She said she never expected any support from LP.

“I didn’t expect any endorsement from LP kay akong kontra LP man nang siya daan. Happy naman pud ko’s UNA. Pareha mi ni Erap og slogan: para sa masa.”

In a separate interview over telephone, the mayor said he will not abandon LP unless the party tells him to leave. He remains optimistic that LP will endorse him as mayor in next year’s polls. He said Annabelle is free to choose a national party to pledge allegiance to and it does not mean that the rest of Team Rama would have to adopt the same choice.

Plans

If she wins in the North District, Annabelle said she will give out Philhealth cards to the indigent residents. She also wants to address the problem of flooding and traffic congestion by improving the drainage system and by widening roads.

She also told The Freeman that she plans to keep not a single centavo of her salary and pork barrel as congresswoman and would even donate a portion of what she is earning in Manila in show business to her constituents in Cebu, if she wins.

“Sa ilaha gyud tanan, sa tanang barangay. Di ko mukuha ana… Mo-cut down na lang ko sa pagpalit og alahas ug mga bags… Kung ako gani musulti, ako gyud nang tumanon (My constituents will have everything I will get as congresswoman. I will not keep anything to myself. I will just cut down on my personal expenses, especially in buying jewelry and bags. I will keep my word,” Annabelle said.

She said she will be the “loudspeaker” in Congress, as she will be the voice of the Cebuanos there. “I’m proud of the title ‘loudspeaker of the house’.”

She will not tolerate corruption, she said, and one way to avoid it is not to stay in politics for too long.

Optimistic

Annabelle believes she has a good chance of winning despite running against either incumbent North District Rep. Rachel “Cutie” del Mar or the latter’s father, former Rep. Raul del Mar who has never lost an election in the district.

“Mas gusto ko ma-challenge kay daghang nisulti nga way nisukol nilang duha. Tanan nisukol pildi. Na-challenge ko that’s why I’m here,” she said.

The Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), the local political party of the Del Mars, is yet to announce its candidate for the North District, but the party’s patriarch, South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña, has expressed that he would prefer the elder Del Mar because of his experience.

Annabelle said what gives her confidence is the positive response she has been getting from Cebuanos in her visits to the barangays.

“Kahibaw ka, ‘day, sa akong pagsuroy-suroy nawa akong kapoy tungod sa reception sa mga tawo. Pag-abot nako, nag-atang na nako sa ilang pultahan, sige’g singgit, ‘Idol, idol!’ and they assured me that they will campaign for me…As of now, from the reception sa masa, parang modaug ko. Dili sa nanghambog ha, sa akong nakita ron, sincere ang mga tawo ron (The Cebuanos have been very receptive. When I went to visit, they called me ‘idol’ and assured me that they will campaign for me. Based on what I see, I will win. I can see their sincerity),” she said.

Criticisms

Critics say Annabelle will drag the mayor down in the elections, but Annabelle said her opponents may just be panicking.

“Tan-awon lang nato sa election. Syempre I can’t blame them; na-ratol na sila (Let’s just see come election time. I can’t blame them; they are panicking,” she said.

She clarified that she was born in Cebu and grew up here.

“Pure Bisaya ko. Akong birth certificate is Cebu City. Naminyo lang kog Tagalog. Syempre sa Manila ko puyo. Kung si Eddie naa sa Manila, kinsa may motupad ni Eddie sa Manila kung naa ko diri sa Cebu? (I’m a pure Bisaya. My birth certificate stipulates I was born here. It just so happened that I married a Tagalog so I had to live in Manila. If Eddie (husband) is in Manila, who would lie beside him in bed if I remained here?),” she said.

She said she will not back out from a fight, as long as it tackles issues.

“Di raba gyud ko papildi, ayaw lang ko unahi. Issue lang, wala lay personalan. Gatigum kuno sila og baho against me, gatigum pud ko. Baga kog nawong, di ko mauwaw. Ayaw lang sugdi kay mosukol raba gyud ko (I will not back down especially if I did not start the fight. Let’s just deal with issues and not go below the belt. I heard they are collecting negative issues against me, well, I am doing the same).” /JMO (FREEMAN)