PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE — Over 30 governors, mayors and other elective officials across the three regions in vote-rich Visayas have put up a united front to ensure the victory of Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. in the May presidential polls.
They then handed it over to the presidential candidate himself, who was in Cebu on Wednesday to take part in the “Suroy Suroy Sugbo” Festival upon the invitation of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
Gov. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar and other local executives were confident that Gibo will win in the presidential race in the face of the broadening support for his candidacy, especially among the youth, who make up the majority of voters in this year’s national elections.
Evardone is secretary-general of the League of Provinces of the Philippines and spokesperson of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, which is the umbrella group of all local government organizations in the country.
A project of the respective Regional Development Councils (RDCs) of Central, Western and Eastern Visayas, One Visayas held a special meeting in Argao to sign this manifesto as a declaration of unified support for Gibo’s presidential bid.
Gibo “represents One Visayas’ ideal of competence in public service; intelligence in the service of the people, governance that is not dictated by politics, but politics dictated by good governance,” they declared in the manifesto.
Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar Perez, who chairs the RDC for Western Visayas, said “One Visayas” usually holds its quarterly meetings in Iloilo, but is having this special one in this heritage town of Argao to sign the manifesto of support for Gibo.
Argao is the hometown of Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who passed away in Manila last Tuesday
Garcia, the RDC chairperson for Central Visayas and who was the first local executive to sign the manifesto during the affair, said in Cebuano that the governors and mayors were signing the manifesto as a demonstration of full support and confidence in the leadership of Gibo “who will be the next president of the Philippines.”
Aside from Garcia, Perez and Evardone, the other governor-signatories were Isidro Zayco of Negros Occidental, Felipe Nava of Guimaras; Erico Aumentajado of Bohol; and Orlando Fua of Siquijor
Perez said other governors did not make it to the event but have promised to sign the pro-Gibo manifesto, among them Carlito Marquez of Aklan, Jericho Petilla of Leyte, Emilio Macias of Negros Oriental, Milagros Tan of Western Samar and Damian Mercado of Southern Leyte.
Among the mayors who signed a separate pro-Gibo manifesto was Calbayog City Mayor Mel Sarmiento, who chairs the RDC for Eastern Visayas.
The other mayors who signed their own manifesto during the afternoon event were Edcel Gallos of Argao Eugenio Lacson of San Carlos City, Alfonso Baguio of Calatrava, Melecio Yap of Escalante, Salvador Escalante Jr. of Cadiz City, Manuel Escalante III of Manapla, David Lacson of E.B. Magalona, Jose Montelibano of Silay City, Alberto Nicor of La Castellano,
Renato Malabor of Isabela, Carmenia Bascon of Himamaylan, Hermilo Aguilar of Hinigaran, Pedro Zayco of Kabankalan, Marxlene Dela Cruz of Salvador Benedicto, Eric Saratan of Talisay City, Elizer Chavez of Passi City, Mon Cabaron of Moalboal, Raymond Calderon of Sambuan, Benjamin Lubitania of Alcantara, Raul Guisadio of Alegria and Michael Dean Cinco of Ginatilan.
The mayors’ manifesto was also signed by Vice Mayor Nonie Blanco of Ronda, Cebu.
Although not from the Visayas, two other political leaders — Gov. Miguel Dominguez of Sarangani and former Gov. Eddie Bong Plaza of Agusan del Sur –were present during the One Visayas gathering, and also signed the governors’ manifesto.
Teodoro assumed the presidency of Lakas-Kampi-CMD last year following the formal selection of Gibo as its standard-bearer and former Optical Media Board chief Edu Manzano as its vice-presidential bet in the May 10 balloting.
Citing a survey done by One Visayas among local executives in the three Visayan regions, Perez said earlier that “so far, out of 30 city mayors, two-thirds have pledged their support and out of the region’s 16 governors, 12 have every intention of fully supporting the former defense secretary.”
“I think the constituency of Gibo is really the students. These campus tours are really heartwarming for him because the students love him,” said Perez of the former defense secretary’s warmly received sorties in universities and colleges.
Dominguez and Nava separately said that Gibo has endeared himself to young voters on the strength of his qualities that appeal to this potent voting bloc: intelligent, honest, clean, firm and decisive, and a stickler for transparency in public governance.
“Gibo possesses the qualities and virtues of a true leader,” Dominguez said. “He is clean and honest, traits that he apparently inherited from his late father who had served as SSS (Social Security System) administrator with distinction and unblemished by any tinge of official corruption.”
Zayco said “Gibo is brilliant and is the only one (among the current crop of presidentiables) qualified to govern our country,” while Nava said the former defense secretary is “intelligent, firm and honest, and the leader who will lead the country to a better future.”
Gibo has been dominating several cyberspace surveys and polls.
These include philippinepolls.com, where he topped the survey with 32 percent of the votes and philippineselections.com, where he got a 38 percent share of the votes as of Jan. 21.
As of Jan. 21, Gibo also topped the Facebook survey of presidentiables with 45.16 percent of the votes, blogwatch.ph with 25.7 percent, and the philippinedailybrew.com with 47 percent.