KBL chapter in Benguet drops Bongbong Marcos, switches to Isko Moreno

Members of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan-Baguio Benguet on Wednesday (April 13) announced at a press briefing in Baguio City that the group is no longer backing the presidential bid of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Instead, the group said it would now support Manila Mayor Isko Moreno. (Photo by Kimberlie Quitasol)

BAGUIO CITY — Leaders of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan-Baguio Benguet (KBL-BB) switched to presidential aspirant Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, saying that the camp of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has “failed them.”

Bernard Ellamil, provincial chairman of KBL-BB, announced their decision to jump ship at a press conference here on Wednesday, April 13.

KBL is a political party founded by Marcos Jr.’s father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

But Ellamil clarified that their move was not sanctioned by the national KBL leadership.

He added that they have yet to talk to local candidates running under the KBL in Baguio and Benguet.

“One of the many reasons why (we switched) [is that] Isko acts and works faster and there is proof of what he has accomplished and that these are not just promises,” Ellamil said.

He said the district coordinators have volunteered using their own resources for months now but they have not received any support from the Marcos’ camp.

According to Ellamil, it took a long time for campaign materials to reach them.

“We were hoping to at least have a T-shirt that we can wear as a uniform, but they gave us only a hundred, which is not enough,” he said.

Ellamil said there are more than 3,000 KBL members in Baguio alone.

Mary Jane Bagay, 48, KBL Baguio coordinator for district 9, said the Marcos camp has not talked to them since September last year.

She added that they have not received the allowance that was promised to them.

Susan Matic, 50, KBL Baguio district 7 coordinator, said she was the first from their group to transfer to the Moreno camp.

“I come from a family of BBM loyalists, but I never knew why my family is supporting BBM…I cannot just vote for BBM because my family said so, I have to decide on my own,” she said.  BMM refers to the initials of Marcos Jr.

“We waited for BBM for months. The pandemic came and went. We went through hardships. We were hoping for a little help just to get by as promised, but it never came,” Matic said.

Aries Mendoza, chairman of the Alliance for Isko group in the Cordillera, welcomed KBL-BB’s move, saying that it was a very “positive development,” especially in this part of the country, which “a certain candidate claims to be his bailiwick.”

Mendoza said he weighed the presidential candidates by verifying the negative issues being thrown at them and the accomplishments they present.

He claimed that he was earlier drawn to the Marcos camp because of his popularity, but after weighing the “pros and cons,” he decided to support Moreno.

Mendoza said that as a candidate for the highest position in the country, having “excess baggage” like the unpaid P203 billion estate tax “is not good.”

He added that the accomplishments being attributed to Marcos, Jr. were actually of his father’s.

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