To support Duterte EX-JUSTICE CHIEF BELLO GIVES UP CONGRESS RUN

By Manny Piñol

Former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who is an incumbent Party-List Congressman, has confirmed that he has given up his reelection bid to focus on the campaign for the presidency of his long-time friend, Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte.

Bello, who is from Isabela Province but married the daughter of former Davao City Mayor Luis Santos, is an incumbent party-list representative of 1BAP which is identified with Vice President Jojo Binay.

He is also one of the key leaders of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity which has played a very important role in the vice presidential campaign of Binay in 2010.

Bello’s departure from the Binay camp could also be an indication of a crack in the otherwise solid support of the APO for the Vice President.

On Wednesday, just as Davaoeños staged its historic mammoth rally in the city’s Freedom Park, Bello resigned his membership from the group to support the presidential bid of Mayor Rody Duterte.

Bello’s move means he will give up his congressional seat just to support Team Duterte.

“For genuine change and reform, i have decided not to run for reelection as Party-List Congressman to support Rody Duterte,” Bello said in a statement Wednesday.

Although Bello did not categorically state so, his move to support Duterte even at the cost of giving up his congressional post meant he was abandoning Binay.

Bello’s departure from the Binay camp has further weakened the UNA Presidential candidate’s foothold in the Davao Region which has about 3.4-million voters and where Duterte soars high in the surveys with 82% voter preference.

Bello and Davao del Norte Congressman Tonyboy Florendo were Binay’s political stalwarts in the Davao Region and were expected to support Binay had Duterte not declare his Presidential run in November.

Bello’s son, Karlo Santos Bello, is running for Congressman in the Toril District of Davao City under Duterte’s local party, Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod.

(Composite photo of Duterte and Bello downloaded from Google.)