Sara welcomes Cebuano, Ilocano support

MANILA, Philippines — Vice presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has welcomed the support of the One Cebu Party and political kingpins in the Ilocos region belonging to the so-called “Solid North.”

Duterte thanked the Garcia family-led One Cebu Party for endorsing her candidacy in the most vote-rich province in the country with over 3.2 million voters.

“I am thankful to One Cebu Party and Gov. Gwen Garcia for their support and endorsement of my candidacy for vice president,” she said in a statement.

“The Cebuanos have always been close to my heart as my family traces its roots to Cebu. I am also very thankful for the support of the Cebuanos for President Duterte in 2016,” Duterte stressed.

House Deputy Speaker and Cebu 3rd district Rep. Pablo John Garcia, party secretary general, announced their endorsement of Duterte last Wednesday.

“We have always been for Sara Duterte as vice president. In fact, had she run for president, One Cebu would not have had any difficulty endorsing her candidacy. It went without saying that we supported her vice presidential bid and reaffirm our commitment to her victory in Cebu,” he explained.

Garcia said Sara will enjoy the support of “practically all” the mayors in the 44 towns and six component cities of Cebu.

But One Cebu, which is the ruling political party in Cebu province, has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, Duterte expressed gratitude to all officials in the Ilocos region who have been extending support to her vice presidential bid and candidacies of the UniTeam.

Duterte has received support from political kingpins in the so-called “Solid North” in Northern Luzon during her campaign sorties earlier this week with running mate presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

During their campaign sorties in his home province of Ilocos Norte last Wednesday evening, the former senator cited the importance of having a president and a vice president allied with each other to rid governance of political conflicts.

“That’s why I’m asking for support from those I love – your help in the coming elections for my candidacy as president. But I’m adding my plea for your help in giving me a partner who would help, who would be behind me, who could be relied on, trusted. And that’s none other than vice president Sara Duterte,” Marcos said in Filipino.

In Ilocos Sur, Narvacan Mayor Luis “Chavit” Singson Sr. assured Duterte of over 90 percent of votes in the province.

“All towns here (will vote for Marcos-Duterte). My estimate is more than 90 percent of votes will be delivered for them because officials here are united. Perhaps we are united here because most of us are running unopposed,” Singson bared during the campaign rally last Thursday.

Singson revealed that he has also been going around the country as president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) and has been seeing how the campaign of the Marcos-Duterte tandem is being fueled by volunteerism.

Last Friday, Duterte brought her nationwide “Mahalin Natin Ang Pilipinas” ride to La Union where she got the endorsement by Gov. Emmanuel “Pacoy” Ortega lll.

Ortega, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), declared his support for Marcos and Duterte during a courtesy call on him at the provincial capitol in San Fernando City.

“I am endorsing the candidacy of Mayor Sara for vice president. I believe in her capacity as a mayor of Davao City for a long time. She has shown skills and capacity as an administrator, and I believe she can expand her horizon not just in Davao but throughout the country,” he stressed.
Ortega said their support for Marcos, on the other hand, is already given.

“We Ilocanos, our affinity with fellow Ilocanos is innate,” he explained.

Duterte was joined by House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, who also endorsed her vice presidential candidacy.

“Mayor Inday Sara possesses a clear vision, is courageous, has integrity, honesty, humility, compassion and clear focus. There is no doubt she will be a good vice president,” stressed Velasco, a close friend and ally of Duterte.

Debate absence has ‘no effect’

Meanwhile, the move by Marcos to skip some forums and interviews had no impact on his candidacy based on recent surveys, a political analyst has said.

Lawyer Edward Chico, professor at De La Salle University and Radyo Veritas program host, believes that the 60 percent garnered by Marcos in the latest Pulse Asia survey showed that the former senator has maintained an overwhelming support of voters despite snubbing presidential forums, including the Jessica Soho interviews of GMA 7.

“Let’s remember that this survey was taken around that time that he refused to appear before the program of a veteran broadcaster.

But despite that, we still see an overwhelming support for him. I think it really had no effect,” Chico explained in a radio interview.

The Pulso Ng Bayan survey of Pulse Asia, which was conducted last January 19 to 24 – which utilized face-to-face interviews with 2,400 respondents – even showed Marcos improving seven more percent compared with his 53 percent in the previous survey result in December 2021.

With only more than 80 days left before the May national polls, Chico said Marcos’ rivals will need to change their strategy or campaign narrative if they still want to catch up in the presidential race.

“I think it (Marcos’ numbers) will no longer go down, because the narratives (of his rivals) are no longer effective.

They need to recalibrate their strategies to overcome this huge number,” he suggested.

“If it’s 60 percent and you have three months to go, it really takes a lot for them to be able to topple down the leading figure in the survey,” Chico further commented.