PB dad backs Davide
It could be a sign of the changing political tide.
Teasing references were openly made yesterday in the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) about members who may be shifting loyalty soon to the Liberal Party.
PB Member Wilfredo Caminero declared that he would support a fellow Argao native, Hilario “Junjun” Davide III for governor but stopped short of saying he would join the Liberal Party.
“This time, no matter what, obligado nako nga mosuporta kang Junjun Davide for being an Argawanon. For that gani, nananghid nako sa gobernador because that is a fulfillment of a promise”, Caminero said in a radio dyLA interview.
“I haven’t taken an oath,” he told reporters later in the PB session hall, then pointed to PB Member Thadeo Ouano, saying “kana hinoon, Liberal na.”’ (That one is already a Liberal)
Ouano, former Mandaue city mayor, just smiled and retorted, “Just read between the lines.”
Both members, allies of of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia in her One Cebu party, were seen in Saturday’s LP gathering in Danao City where President Aquino witnessed the oath-taking of Rep. Ramon “Nito” Durano III and the formal alliance of LP and the Cebu-base Bakud party in the 5th district.
The alliance has set off scrutiny of the allegiance of the 15-member Capitol legislative body, which has been dominated by Garcia allies for nine years.
At the PB session, presided by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who is running in 2013 as the common candidate of LP and Bakud, she teased Ouano by acknowledging him as the “liberated” gentleman of the 6th district”.
Magpale in an interview said she counts eight out of 15 “sympathetic” PB members with her.
Four of them are relatives, but she refused to name the rest, saying she doesn’t have their permission to reveal this.
Her niece, PB Member Carmen Remedios Durano-Meca, showed up for the session in a yellow dress.
When PB Member Rimobapil Holganza went to the podium to ask a question, Magpale asked in a light vein, “Are you one of the 11?”
She was referring to the earlier observation of PB Member Arleigh Sitoy, who also attended the Danao event, that eleven out of 15 PB members were already allies or members of LP.
Magpale’s son, Miguel Antonio, was not around to fill his mother’s vacated seat representing the 5th district.
He hasn’t taken his oath of office yet although he submitted Bakud’s nomination and other papers last Thursday.
Caminero, a businessman from Argao, the hometown of the Davide clan, parried questions about his political loyalty.
“I haven’t taken an oath yet. It would seem like usurpation to claim I’m a Liberal without being sworn in,” he said.
Asked if this means he would move to LP, Caminero said “that depends”.
“If it’s needed, especially if I get expelled from Once Cebu,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Caminero said that he already told One Cebu party about his support for Davide.
“Gov. Gwen already knows this,” he told CDN.
Caminero said he was fullfilling “a promise that in the next election, I will support Davide.”
“In the last election, Davide asked me for his support as a close member of the family, as an Argaoanon. I told him at that time, I cannot join you,” he said.
“Gwen is still in her last term. I joined her from the start. And maybe this time, I will join her for the Senate campaign,” he added.
Governor Garcia, in a press conference at noon, said she wasn’t taking Caminero’s presence in the Durano birthday party against him.
“Based on the report, they justified that they were there because they were invited by Vice Mayor Nito… I won’t interpret it any other way,” she said.
Garcia said she would give them space because they haven’t taken an oath of office and “many things can still happen”.
Caminero, in the radio interview, confirmed that “talks are still in progress” to persuade him and mayors in the 2nd district in south Cebu to transfer to the LP.
He said a manifesto was also being circulated by the Garcia camp to seal their support but that he and Argao Mayor Edsel Galeos didn’t sign up.
“Parehas mi og gisuportahan. Gani, wa man na si Mayor Galeos mopirma sa manifest of support nga gipalibot sa mga Garcia”, he said in a follow up interview last night.
Caminero said some groups have asked him to run for congressman in the 2nd district, a seat held by Rep. Pablo Garcia. But he said it’s premature to decide until the filing of certificate of candidacy in October. /Carmel Loise Matus and Jhunnex Napallacan, Correspondents
