Eastern Visayas pols cross party lines to back national bets

Tolosa, Leyte province, parish priest Msgr. Alex Opiniano leads a prayer for senatorial candidate and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez (second from right) and wife, first district congressional candidate Yedda Romualdez (third from right) at a community center in Tacloban City. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Candidates for national posts may expect support from their province mates—sometimes crossing political party lines—in Eastern Visayas.

Two political scions—Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and former Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla—are seeking seats in the Senate. Romualdez, nephew of former first lady Imelda Marcos, is running as an independent candidate, while Petilla, a former governor, is running under the Liberal Party (LP).

Though they have been bitter political rivals in Leyte province, both can expect support from local leaders in Eastern Visayas, which is composed of Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar provinces.

The region, the poorest in the country, has not produced a senator in more than 50 years. The last was Decoroso Rosales, from Calbayog City in Samar, who was senator from 1955

to 1961.

United vote for region

The Waray in the Senate Movement is working for a united Waray vote for both Romualdez and Petilla, regardless of party affiliations. “They are the most viable candidates from the region who have a chance to get elected senators,” says the group’s leader, Raymundo Junia.

Romualdez’s cousin, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who is aspiring to become Vice President, can also expect support from the local leaders even if they belong to the LP.

Samar Gov. Sharee Ann Tan says that while her mayors are committed to support LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas, they may not do so for his running mate, Camarines Norte

Rep. Leni Robredo. “They have admitted that they support Bongbong,” she says, referring to Marcos.

Tan, who belongs to the National Unity Party, is supporting Roxas for helping her province when it was battered by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in 2013. Local officials choose Marcos over Robredo as they consider him from Eastern Visayas, too, since his mother is from Leyte.

Western Visayas

Roxas also enjoys the support of local leaders in Western Visayas, where he traces his roots. His mother, Judy Araneta-Roxas, is from Negros Occidental, while his late father, Gerardo, was from Capiz.

Leaders from the two provinces have pledged support to Roxas because they want a Visayan in Malacañang.

Although the mothers of both Roxas and his rival, independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe, are from Negros Occidental, Roxas has the support of most of the officials in Negros Occidental and is seen more as a Negrense because he can speak the local language, Hiligaynon. He also fast-tracked the creation of the Negros Island Region, which unified Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

Though Jejomar Binay won the vice presidential derby in 2010, Roxas won by a wide margin in Negros Occidental, or 571,155 votes to Binay’s 177,064.

In Iloilo, three presidential candidates—Roxas, Poe and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago—have roots or lineage in the province. But Roxas enjoys a bigger clout because of the support of local leaders led by Senate President Franklin Drilon.

Cebu

In Cebu, where he had a landslide win in 2010, Roxas can no longer claim the province as his bailiwick. His rival, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is being fielded by the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban, has a lot of Cebuano supporters because he is Bisaya.

According to Mayor John Henry Osmeña of Toledo City, Duterte traces his roots to Cebu—being related to the Duranos, an old political clan in the fifth district. Even two of his relatives are for Duterte—his brother, former governor Lito Osmeña, and cousin, Sen. Serge Osmeña.

Mayor Osmeña, however, is supporting Binay, who has formed an alliance with a local opposition party, One Cebu of the Garcia political family, whose bailiwick covers three of Cebu’s seven districts—the second, third and fourth.

Poe may even get some of the votes in the third district after she managed to get the support of the Espinosas, Mayor Osmeña’s rival in Toledo City.

Solid support for Roxas can be seen only in the first, sixth and seventh districts, which are controlled by LP leaders.

The fifth district is controlled by the Duranos, who have their own local party, Bakud. The party has yet to decide who to support among Poe, Roxas and Duterte, but already, Rep. Joseph Ace Durano, who is from the district, has accepted to be Poe’s campaign manager.

For Ace Durano, Bakud was already committed to support Poe and her running mate, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

“I would not have accepted (the offer to be their campaign manager) without the go signal of the leaders of the party. It goes without saying that they support my move. Just like how they have decided to support Grace Poe,” he said. Connie Fernandez, Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Doris C. Bongcac, Carla P. Gomez and Joey A. Gabieta