MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Senator Manny Pacquiao believes that some of the supporters of his opponent Manila City mayor Isko Moreno will shift their support to him and not the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo.
Pacquiao made the remark on Tuesday after Ikaw Muna (IM) Pilipinas, who formerly endorsed the presidential bid of Moreno, shifted their support to Robredo.
READ: IM Pilipinas endorses presidential bid of Leni Robredo
“Hindi naman siguro lahat pupunta kay Leni. Baka sa akin pupunta ‘yun,” he said in a press briefing in Pagadian City.
(Not all of them will shift to Leni. Some of them may choose me, instead.)
He said some of Moreno’s supporters may support him instead because both he and the Manila City mayor share the same background of coming from the poor.
“Siguro hindi naman lahat pupunta doon sa kabila. Sa atin din naman siguro dahil si Isko may background din ng galing sa mahirap,” Pacquiao said.
(I think not all of them will go to Leni. I think some of them will go to me because Isko also has a background of being poor.)
The IM Pilipinas, which is led by former Metro Manila Development Authority head Tim Orbos, said they have chosen to support Robredo since she answered the call for unity against another Marcos presidency and that she is in the “best position to win” the 2022 elections being consistently in the second place in pre-election surveys.
Prior to this, the Visayas and Zamboanga chapters of IM Pilipinas also announced a shift of support from Moreno to Robredo.
Moreno’s campaign manager Lito Banayo, however, said they were unfazed by the change of decision by the IM Pilipinas Visayas chapter.