Duterte camp confident bet will emerge victorious in presidential race

Presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

After placing second in the latest Pulse Asia survey, the camp of presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is confident he will end up victorious come election day in May.

READ: Poe tops Pulse Asia poll; Duterte edges out Binay for 2nd place

“There are lots of grounds to cover, and we are confident we will end up leading come election day,” Leoncio Evasco Jr., Duterte’s campaign manager said in a statement on Tuesday.

In the said Pulse Asia survey commissioned by ABS-CBN, Duterte was a close second to the front-runner independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe.

“This reaffirms and reinforces our observation that we continue to gain grounds and convert adherents. We are comfortable where we are at this stage of the campaign period,” Evasco said.

READ: Duterte camp claims gaining more ‘converts’ despite ratings slump

Among the presidential candidates, he said it was only Duterte “who has the vision, the competence and track record, the compassion and the heart for the people and the country.”

“We believe that people are now realizing that only through the political agenda of Duterte, whose style of leadership is centered on addressing the issues and needs of the people, that the country will be able to truly experience meaningful and real change,” said Evasco.

Evasco said they are happy that the Filipino voters are now realizing the “empty promise and rhetorics of Duterte’s rivals.”

“We hope that more and more Filipinos will realize that the country needs Duterte’s ‘Tapang at Malasakit’ (courage and compassion), especially this time when the country is wading through the woes brought by the unbroken neglect and abuse of the government of its very own people,” he said.

READ: ‘Tapang at malasakit’: Duterte’s alleged campaign pitch circulating in social media

Evasco said it is now “time to end massive poverty and underdevelopment, corruption in the government, high incidents of criminality and proliferation of illegal drugs in the Philippines.”

“Enough of our aspirations for a good life. This is the time for us [to] live a better life,” he said. RAM

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