Cebu Vote 2019: Duterte backs Gwen, Labella

CEBU, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte last night threw his support behind Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia’s bid for governor.

"Kini si Gwen, ako gyud ni supportahan," Duterte said after raising Garcia’s hand at the tail end of the PDP-Laban rally in Cebu City Sunday night.

The rally ended shortly before midnight.   Garcia was governor of Cebu for three terms before she was suspended by former President Benigno Aquino in 2012 for grave abuse of authority.

She was suspended in connection with administrative charges filed against her by the late Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr. in 2010.

Sanchez said Garcia allegedly diverted the province's budget for alleged anomalous contracts.

Garcia then ran for representative of Cebu’s Third District and served in Congress for two terms.

Last year, she decided to run again for governor.

Duterte also raised the hand of Cebu City mayoralty bet Edgardo Labella and his runningmate Michael Rama but did not verbalize his support.

At the beginning of the rally last night, Garcia promised senatorial candidates of PDP-Laban that they will get the Cebu vote in the May polls.

“May I assure our candidates that here in Cebu, you can count on the votes of the Cebuanos, which gave President Duterte 1.4 million votes… majority… because Cebu is PDP Laban country,” Garcia said during PDP-Laban’s rally in Cebu City Sunday night.

Garcia was the one who introduced the PDP-Laban bets on stage at the Plaza Independencia where an estimated 80,000 local supporters gathered as early as 2 p.m.

The official PDP-Laban senatorial candidates are Dong Mangudadatu, Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go, Koko Pimentel, and Francis Tolentino – the ones in the moniker Ma-Ba-Go-Mo-Ko-To.

The party also has guest candidates, including Imee Marcos, Pia Cayetano, Freddie Aguilar, and Raffy Alunan.

Garcia presented the candidates in the presence of President Rodrigo Duterte who proceeded to the rally after distributing unconditional cash transfer grants to beneficiaries in Cebu City.

Duterte himself said he did not have the support of barangay captains or councilmen when he decided to run for President in 2016. It was reportedly only Marcos who supported him in the north and the Garcias here in Cebu that supported him during “critical hours”.

He said PDP-Laban has stayed true to its promises, including free education and free hospitalization, which materialized during his presidency.

Even before Duterte arrived, local candidates Gerard Anthony Gullas (First District), Pablo John Garcia (Third District), Emmarie Ouano Dizon (Sixth District) and Nelson Garcia (Seventh District) took to the stage to convince supporters to vote for PDP-Laban bets.  Senator Manny Pacquiao, campaign manager of PDP-Laban, said whoever Duterte endorses should be supported by everyone else because these candidates will support the President’s plans and programs.

In separate interviews Tolentino, Ejercito, Pimentel, and Cayetano said they are counting on the Cebu vote.

Mangundadatu called for unity among Christians and Muslims while Go called for the eradication of illegal drugs and health preservation.

"Wala kaming ibang hangarin kundi ang tumulong para sa bansa natin (Our only hope is to help the country)," Go said.

Ejercito, meanwhile prided himself of the bills he has authored that have funneled millions to various hospitals in Cebu.

He also said he will support initiatives that will abate the traffic situation in Cebu, whether the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system or the Light Rail Transit (LRT).

Security

Cebu City Police Director Royina Garma said security measures worked as planned.

“Malipay ko nga hapsay kahit sa dami ng high-profile personalities… maganda na walang nangyaring masama (I’m happy that everything went smoothly despite the number of high-profile personalities… it’s good that nothing untoward happened),” Garma told The Freeman.

Garma attributed the outcome to the coordination of government security agencies.

"We are alert and we raised the status to red – to assure na lahat ng kapulisan ay naka-standby and ready for any untoward incident (We are alert and we raised the status to red – to assure that all policemen were on standby for any untoward incident)," Garma said.

Over 1,300 cops were deployed to places Duterte visited.

Police Regional Office - 7 Director Debold Sinas said the security personnel deployed from different law enforcement units reached 2,500.

The forces include explosive ordnance division and bomb-sniffing dogs, to prevent any form attempts to harm those who will be attending the event.

Drugs

In his speech at CTU, Duterte said he remains disappointed in the drug situation in Cebu – giving a special mention to Talisay City. (FREEMAN)