Bakud backs Poe-Escudero

But Davide-Magpale for local

CEBU, Philippines - After months of keeping the public wondering who they will support in the coming elections, the Durano-led Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (BAKUD) party of the fifth district of Cebu finally announced they will be supporting the candidacies of senators Grace Poe and Francis “Chiz” Escudero, for president and vice president, respectively.

In a press conference in Danao City, BAKUD president and Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon “Red” Durano VI said that it took them quite a while to announce their bets since they still had to convince a number of their allies who were hesitant to support the tandem.  

“This is a decision that we didn’t take lightly knowing the disqualification cases that Senator Grace Poe was facing, majority of the members of the party were hesitant to really voice out their commitment of support for Senator Grace,” said Red. 

He explained that when his brother, incumbent 5th district Representative Ace Durano, announced that he had accepted the offer to be the campaign manager of Poe and Escudero in the last quarter of 2015, they were already strongly considering supporting Poe and Escudero.

However, with the disqualification case still pending at the time, they had to meet with their members several times to carefully discuss the matter.

“It was a process of consultations with the mayors and vice mayors and the different stakeholders of the party,” Red said. 

When asked who they would have supported if Poe was disqualified, Red said they did not think about that as they were confident the cases would be dismissed.

Yesterday, the BAKUD party came in full force with Vice Mayor Durano, the party’s chairman emeritus, Danao City Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III, as well as mayors and vice mayors of all local government units allied with BAKUD.

Apart from the announcement, the party also came up with an official resolution “endorsing and supporting the candidacy of Sen. Grace Poe as president and Sen. Chiz Escudero as vice president of the Republic of the Philippines in the coming May 9, 2016 national and local elections.”

Based on the resolution, the party decided to support the tandem because they believe the two “will be able to address the problems besetting our country.”

“It’s their platform of inclusive growth, meaning when they talk of economic growth, it’s not just involving one sector of society but involving every sector of society. As a party, BAKUD, that’s what we espouse in the district,” explained Red. 

Mayor Nito also said a number of candidates from other parties spoke with him, hoping to get BAKUD’s support.

“There were lots of candidates who approached me, but my line of answering them is that since August, Ace asked my permission that he will go with Senator Grace as campaign manager and I gave my blessing to him. So, with that, since August, I was already committed to Ace. That’s the only answer I gave them,” said the mayor. 

Further, Red said they were already decided on whom to support.

“The acceptance of Ace being the campaign manager of Senator Grace played a big factor. Because of that, wala na mi motan-aw pa og laing kandidato. That’s why I also said that it was difficult… that decision of ours was personal because of Ace,” Red said.

Representative Durano earlier said that out of the 1,778 elected officials in the 5th district, 89 percent or 1,589 are BAKUD members. The 5th district has 10 towns, starting from Liloan to Borbon and the Camotes Islands and also includes Danao City.

Out of the 11 LGUs, only Mayor Duke Frasco of Liloan town and his council members are not aligned with BAKUD.

However, Red said he is confident that their mayoralty candidate for Liloan, incumbent Vice Mayor Lucelito Pilapil, can deliver votes for the Poe-Escudero tandem.

“I can say with the commitment of the party, we will do our best to make them win in the district,” he said.

However, he admitted that it will be a challenge, especially in Danao City, considering that another presidential candidate, Davao City Rodrigo Duterte, has ties to the city. 

“It will be a challenge, especially here in Danao, because one, his roots are from here. He has supporters here in Danao. But as I said, the party will do its best to really work for the candidacies of Senators Grace and Chiz,” he said.

Duterte is a relative of the Duranos, which fueled earlier speculations that BAKUD may support him, but when Dutertevisited Danao City last month he was told their full support goes to Ace. 

“Actually, if you go with that line of thinking being a relative, Ace is a closer relative than Duterte is. So with that, that’s why we were focusing on Senators Grace and Chiz,” he said.

Red also said while they will be supporting NPC in the national level, their support for governor and vice governor of Cebu will still go to incumbent Governor Hilario Davide III and Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, respectively.

Magpale is a member of BAKUD and is also part of the Durano clan. The vice governor earlier announced that she will be supporting Liberal Party presidential candidate, former DILG secretary Mar Roxas.

“Of course we are supporting the tandem of Governor Junjun and Vice governor Agnes Magpale and as a member of the party, we respect her decision in supporting Secretary Mar, but that’s precisely why all the mayors and vice mayors belonging to the BAKUD party are here to show our full commitment that we will give our 100 percent to the candidacies of Senator Grace and Senator Chiz,” Red said.

Red also said that he doesn’t believe that supporting two different political parties in the national and local level will affect the result of the election.

“The way we see it, I don’t think it can affect. We’re not voting for the party per se, we’re voting for the individuals running for the party,” Red said.

Last October, Poe visited the Durano family in Danao City. Red said Poe will be back with Escudero, probably next month, for campaign rallies in the district.  — /BRP (FREEMAN)