NAGA CITY, Cebu—Discredited politicians can’t deliver a million votes.
Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Mar Roxas said the One Cebu party, which declared its support for presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, was not in a position to deliver the million votes it promised Duterte because the local party was composed of politicians who had lost their credibility.
On his second sortie in Cebu province, Roxas expressed confidence Cebuano voters were intelligent.
Billions of pesos spent by the government on infrastructure, health care and subsidy for the poor would translate into support for the continuation of President Aquino’s programs, which Roxas is using as his campaign platform.
The One Cebu party, led by the Garcia clan, junked Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also running for president, in favor of Duterte.
Roxas said he believed he, not Duterte, had the trust of Cebuanos.
“How can Duterte improve the economy when his advice to businessmen is to pay revolutionary taxes to the New People’s Army?” said Roxas.
“That is the difference between Mar Roxas and Digong Duterte,” he said.
Vote-rich province
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, an LP member, said while Duterte had a strong following in Cebu, LP’s campaign machinery would spell victory for Roxas in the country’s most vote-rich province.
One of the biggest clans supporting Roxas, Davide said, was the Gullas family through their Alayon Party.
Roxas endorsed Alayon candidates in Cebu’s first district.
Rep. Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas, a scion of the Gullas clan, said, however, that his family’s party could not support Roxas’ running mate, Rep. Leni Robredo.
Gullas said the clan still belonged to the Nacionalista Party, which has three candidates for vice president including Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes.