No ‘cracks’ in Aksyon Demokratiko after Hilbay’s exit — party exec

FILE PHOTO Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay

MANILA, Philippines — An official of Aksyon Demokratiko on Tuesday claimed there were no “cracks” formed among the party’s ranks following former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay’s exit from the party to support another candidate — Vice President Leni Robredo.

“I wouldn’t say there’s any crack, natural lang naman yung [it’s natural that] people will come and go,” Aksyon Demokratiko Chairperson Ernest Ramel said in a Teleradyo interview Tuesday.

On Monday, Hilbay announced his resignation from Aksyon, the party of presidential aspirant Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, to back the bid of Robredo, who he had worked with in the 2019 elections as part of Otso Diretso’s senatorial slate.

The former solicitor general was Aksyon Demokratiko’s senatorial candidate in 2019.

Hilbay’s exit from the party followed the resignation of Moreno’s chief of staff Cesar Chavez and the abrupt withdrawal of broadcaster and former Vice President Noli de Castro from his senatorial bid last week.

Reacting to Hilbay’s resignation, Ramel said that while the party lost “one good member,” it still gained three senatorial bets for 2022 and over 4,000 other candidates across the country.

“From 2019, we had only more than 100 candidates, including former Solicitor General Hilbay. Now we have more than 4,000 candidates nationwide,” Ramel said.

“Kung kamustahin natin yung kampanya sa mga probinsiya… napakalaking tulong na may 4,000 kandidato tayo sa buong Pilipinas na nagsusulong ng kandidatura ng ating standard bearer,” he added.

(If we were to look at our campaign in the provinces…it’s a big help to have 4,000 candidates in the country who are pushing for the candidacy of our standard bearer.)

EDV