TAGBILARAN CITY — Two gubernatorial candidates in Bohol province are claiming to be endorsed by the presidential daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Both Rep. Arthur Yap and former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. have released campaign posters that showed their hands were raised by Duterte.
Evasco accused Yap’s camp of manipulating the photo to appear that Duterte was endorsing the outgoing congressman’s hand.
Yap, however, claimed that the photo was real and that he had consent to use the photo in his campaign posters.
In his statement, he said his group, Pundok Padayon Bol-anon, was not a source of fake news and fake propaganda.
Not fake
“The poster showing my hand raised by Mayor Inday Sara Duterte is not fake. There was consent from Mayor Sara to post the photo,” Yap said.
He said the photo was taken during his birthday celebration in Metro Manila on Nov. 10 last year.
He added the “endorsement” should not come as a surprise because he belonged to the party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan.
Evasco, a longtime aide and friend of President Duterte, is with the Nationalist People’s Coalition of which is in coalition with Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), a regional party headed by Duterte.
Video
His camp released a 33-second video last Friday, which showed Duterte asking the public to vote for the former Cabinet secretary.
“This coming election, let us show our roaring vote and support to our one and only governor of Bohol, Jun Evasco. Let us support and vote for him,” Duterte said in the video.
Yap, in an interview with Bohol media, said “he was working along fine with Mayor Sara while they share some mutual concerns for the development of their respective places.”
“I was just wondering why the camp of Evasco was making a big issue out of this endorsement when I never raised an eyebrow over their claimed endorsement of President Duterte to whose party I belonged,” Yap said.
During an HNP rally on March 20, Duterte endorsed Evasco and his running mate, lawyer Thomas Abapo Jr. “We support him in his campaign and candidacy as governor of Bohol,” she told reporters.
Willy Ramasola, a supporter of Evasco, commented that Yap’s camp was trying to deceive the people by making it appear like Duterte was endorsing Yap.
“The hand raising pictorial of Sara cannot even be considered an endorsement. And we all know from the recent rally and from the video interview that Sara is fully behind Evasco,” he said.