So it’s not the actor who played Jose Rizal, but another show biz veteran who had a brief appearance in “Bourne Legacy.”
Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim on Tuesday said that he had chosen Councilor Luciano “Lou” Veloso to be his running mate in his reelection bid next year.
“We have chosen him in our meeting with the candidates yesterday,” Lim told reporters, referring to the 6th district councilor who has been in politics since the mid-1990s.
Lim said he had chosen Veloso to be his vice mayor because “he has a good track record.”
“He directs plays on heroes and historical events. He has no enemies and more importantly, he garnered the highest vote for councilors in the 2010 election.”
“Because whoever wins as vice mayor has one foot at the door to be the next mayor, I hope (Veloso) will continue my services (and projects), such as the six hospitals with free medical services, two universities with free tuition, my ‘womb-to-tomb’ program. And I think we have given out 1,450 wheelchairs,” he said.
Veloso, a theater and comedic actor best known for his character “Mr. Truman,” played a bit role as a fisherman in the recent Hollywood action flick “Bourne Legacy” which was partly shot in Metro Manila.
Months earlier, Cesar Montano, an award-winning actor who once played the national hero, among others, was rumored to be Lim’s possible running mate.
When asked about his chosen candidate, Lim first committed an apparent slip and said it would be “Vice Mayor Isko Moreno,” before clarifying that it would be Veloso.
Moreno—another former actor known as Francisco Domagoso off-screen—was Lim’s longtime ally before he and 28 Manila councilors switched earlier this year to the camp of former President Joseph Estrada, Lim’s emergent rival in the 2013 elections.