Bandwagon starts 22 BUKIDNON MAYORS JOIN DUTERTE GROUP

By Manny Piñol

The political bandwagon for presidential frontrunner Rody Duterte has started.

On Friday, Bukidnon Governor Jose Maria Zubiri Jr. and all the mayors of the province’s 22 towns pledged their support to Duterte.

Zubiri, father of senatorial candidate Miguel Zubiri, is a stalwart of the Liberal Party (LP) and his departure from the administration party left Manuel Roxas III with virtually nobody to depend on in a province with a very large voting population.

Duterte spokesman Peter Tiu Laviña, in a post on his Facebook page today, said with Zubiri pledging his support for the presidential contest frontrunner, Bukidnon has virtually become a Duterte territory with two leading candidates for Governor aligning themselves with the Davao City Mayor.

Zubiri said the decision to support Duterte was reached after a series of consultations with local officials and their constituents.

“This is the mandate of the people of Bukidnon,” he said.

In his speech, Duterte highlighted his peace agenda for the Philippines.

“If I win, I will talk to the rebel groups — the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Moro National Liberation Front, and the New People’s Army,” he said. “I heard that my professor, Jose Maria Sison of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, wants to go home if I get elected.”

He also thanked Governor Zubiri and the people of Bukidnon for their support.

Two weeks ago, Zubiri called for a conference with local officials with the primary objective of getting a consensus on who to support in the May elections.

Over 5,200 local officials attended the conference, with 68 percent of them expressing their strong support for Duterte’s candidacy.

One of the reasons cited was Duterte’s agenda of real change, according to Zubiri.

“We are supporting him despite the fact that he doesn’t have the machinery or funds — unlike the other candidates,” he said. “Sariling sikap itong amin (We are helping ourselves here).”

He said they understand that the lack of funds is because of Duterte’s principled rejection of help from known political funders.

“He doesn’t want to ask favors from billionaires in Manila and we get that, we understand that,” he said.

Zuburi said despite the lack of funds, he believes Duterte will make it.

Zubiri is among those who supported Duterte’s advocacy to change the current system of government of the Philippine to federalism.

Bukidnon is fourth among the Mindanao provinces with most number of voters at 765,898.

There are four candidates for Governor in the province – Delia Arroyo (IND), Delfina Bicatulo (Ind.), Diosdado Tabios (PDP Laban) and

Zubiri.

Tabios, a Catholic priest and original Duterte supporter in the province, relented to appeals by Duterte supporters in the province not to stand in the way of Zubiri’s open support for the presidential frontrunner.

“They will fight their local political battles but they are united in supporting Duterte,” said a Duterte campaign leader.

With all the mayors of 22 tows in Bukidnon now openly supporting the Presidential frontrunner, the bandwagon of support for Duterte has moved to high gear.

Earlier, Congressman Rufus Rodriguez who is running for Mayor of Cagayan de Oro City and also a member of the Liberal Party (LP) pledged support for Duterte.

“He thanked us for endorsing him 100 percent. We did not talk na about my earlier preference with Mar Roxas,” Rodriguez, who is locked in a 3-way contest for mayor of CDO said.

In Central Visayas, One Cebu gubernatorial candidate Winston Garcia also expressed support for Duterte and abandoned his party’s alliance with Jejomar Binay’s UNA.

He said his decision to support Duterte came after a week-long consultation with political leaders and supporters in 51 towns and cities in the province.

Of the 51 local government areas, he said, it was only in two areas where Duterte did not emerge as the preferred choice for candidates.”

(Photos of Gov. Zubiri, Cong. Rodriguez and Gov. Garcia downloaded from Google.)