FILE PHOTO: Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso (L) and Senator Manny Pacquiao (R), both running to be the next president of the country. The presidential elections will be on Monday, May 9, 2022. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential bet Manny Pacquiao has called rival Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso “insecure.”
This as the senator claimed that the mayor only scheduled their sorties in Cebu because he had also conducted his campaign there.
According to Pacquiao, Moreno held his team’s campaign in Cebu because the former actor was supposedly scared that the world boxing champion-turned-politician might prevail in the Visayas region.
“Sa tingin ko kung hindi ako nag-schedule dito sa Cebu hindi rin sila nag-schedule dito sa Cebu,” said Pacquiao in Cebuano during a media briefing in Cebu.
(I think if I didn’t schedule here in Cebu they also wouldn’t schedule here in Cebu.)
“Insecure ‘yan sila kasi ako ang Bisaya at iniisip nila na masulit ni MP ang Bisaya. Totoo ‘yan,” he added.
(They are insecure because I am Bisaya and they’re thinking that MP can dominate the Visayas. That’s true.)
Pacquiao said he knows Visayans will end up voting for a fellow Visayan. He also noted he is the only candidate who hails from the Visayas, explaining that both his parents and family are from Cebu.
“Sino ba naman ang magtutulungan kundi ang kapwa Bisaya. Sinasabi nila na may ‘Solid North’ eh may solid naman Visayas at Mindanao na mga Bisaya,” said Pacquiao.
(Who will help each other but fellow Visayans. They say that there is a ‘Solid North’ but there’s also ‘Solid Visayas’ and Mindanaoans who are Visayans.)
Both Pacquiao and Moreno were spending one of their last campaign days in Cebu province. Pacquiao was set to hold a miting de avance in Cebu City on May 6, and another one in his hometown General Santos City on May 7.
Moreno, on the other hand, would hold his miting de avance in Tondo, Manila, on May 6.
In the April 16-21 Pulse Asia survey, which result was released on May 2, Pacquiao overtook Moreno on the third spot as the senator’s numbers rose to 7 percent while the mayor’s numbers dropped to 4 percent.
RELATED STORIES
Pacquiao’s campaign manager: Isko Moreno drop in survey not surprising
Pacquiao believes some Isko Moreno supporters will shift to him, not to Robredo