2.7M Cebu votes up for grabs in Palace race

Architect Manuel Tingzon Jr. shares efforts of the private sector to conserve and rehabilitate cultural heritage sites and structures in Iloilo City during the INQUIRER Town Hall at the UP Visayas Cinematheque. (Photo by John Nery/Inquirer.net)

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Each may have his or her own backers but not one of the presidential candidates can claim dominance in Cebu, analysts said on Friday after a forum in the province with the country’s largest number of voters at 2.7 million.

This makes it difficult to predict who will win the presidential fight in Cebu in May, according to panelists at the Inquirer Town Hall: Voices of the Visayas forum.

It is anybody’s game, Mayor John Henry Osmeña of Toledo City told an audience composed of students and teachers at Center for Teacher Excellence of Cebu Normal University.

Joining the mayor in the forum titled “Whose ‘country’ is Cebu” were his estranged cousin, former city Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Cebu Rep. Joseph Ace Durano and Raymond Aquino, a volunteer for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The forum, held in partnership with the group Coalition for Better Education, was the second leg of the Voice of the Visayas forum. The first was held in Iloilo City on Thursday.

The Inquirer Town Hall was part of the Inquirer Group’s preparation for the Visayas-leg of the presidential debate.

Nobody owns Cebu because the behavior of political clans and of local parties no longer follows the pattern “we have been accustomed to,” John Osmeña said.

Also, Cebu has geographic divisions that nobody can claim to be their own, he added.

He also said that among the seven districts of Cebu, only one had remained monolithic in the last 20 years—the 5th district, which has been dominated by the Durano family for decades.

Still, John Osmeña added he was surprised the Duranos and their local party, Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud), had gone for presidential candidate Grace Poe when Poe’s rival, Duterte, is a cousin.

Bigger question

Tomas Osmeña agreed.

Cebu is not Binay country nor is it Osmeña country—it is nobody’s country, said Tomas Osmeña.

But he said he was rooting for Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas because of what he had done for Cebu.

Durano, Poe’s campaign manager, said the bigger question should be to whom should the Cebuanos yield their authority during the election.

“My guess is as good as yours,” he added.

Durano cited a survey that showed 27 percent might still change their minds as to whom they would vote for in the May 9 polls.

He pointed out that based on survey results, Poe came out as the second choice of voters. Still, he said, the election was still 60 days away and the outcome could still change.

Duterte’s volunteer, Aquino, said that while it may be presumptive for candidates to claim Cebu as their bailiwick, his personal opinion was Cebu is Duterte country.

He said this was based on answers he got when he asked Cebuanos. He said 7 out of the 10 people he asked, mostly drivers and vendors, told him they were for Duterte.

John Osmeña said he expected the winning margin in Cebu would only be about 35 percent or roughly 700,000 votes.

Aquino was optimistic his candidate would get 1.5 million votes.

Durano admitted that Cebu was a very big challenge for the Poe campaign since Duterte had a natural advantage, tracing his roots to Cebu, especially Danao City, hometown of the Duranos.

He said that Duterte’s father used to be mayor of Danao before he and his family migrated to Mindanao.

Political unity

Durano said Roxas was also strong in Cebu, where he won when he ran for senator and, later unsuccessfully, for Vice President.

“That’s the challenge we are facing,” Durano said.

But Durano said he had faith in his candidate whom he said was the only one who could bring political unity, which the country needed to accelerate its economic growth.

Tomas Osmeña disagreed, saying achieving political unity was unrealistic. In democracy, there is no unity, he said, adding a clash of opinions was the essence of democracy.

“If you want unity, we should have a dictatorship. Or a monarchy. Or one church. Is that what you want?” he asked.

John Osmeña had an appeal to whoever would become President: the new President should come back to Cebu.

“I have been through several Presidents. What is important is they pay attention to us,” said the mayor.

He recalled that when President Aquino ran for President in 2010, he spent P1 million to organize a rally for the LP standard-bearer then.

“We had a huge rally. At the end of the rally, he went down the stage with Mar Roxas and did not even say thank you. That’s the last time I saw him,” John Osmeña said.

He stressed that presidential candidates should not just be paying lip service to democracy.

“They should give us the time, money and attention that we need,” he added. TVJ

RELATED STORY

Whose ‘country’ is Cebu? Forum to determine