BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The 28 Negros Occidental mayors reiterated and pledged anew their support to the presidential bid of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., BBM provincial spokesperson former Murcia Mayor Esteban “Sonny” Coscolluela said yesterday.
Marcos campaign manager Benhur Abalos and Narvacan Mayor Luis “Chavit” Singson, president of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines, met on Sunday the 28 mayors and four Negros Occidental solons at the Stonehill Suites in Bacolod City, as confirmed yesterday by Coscolluela.
Coscolluela said that Abalos and Singson told the 28 mayors to hold on and deliver the votes for the BBM Sara Duterte tandem. “You can’t sit back and say, we are leading. You have to deliver the votes. Election is a game of counting votes,” he said, noting that Marcos is overwhelmingly leading in the surveys against several other presidential candidates.
Negros Occidental ranked sixth among the vote rich provinces in the country, with 1.9 million voters, including highly urbanized Bacolod City.
Coscolluela said that four incumbent Negros Occidental solons, including Reps. Gerardo Valmayor, Jose Francisco Benitez, Juliet Marie Ferrer and Marilou Arroyo also joined the 28 mayors in the meeting, while former Rep. Mercedes Alvarez sent a message “that in spirit, she is them.”
He also reported that 23 mayors in Iloilo and 18 local chief executives in Negros Oriental are also supporting BBM.
“The bandwagon is on. Everybody would like to hitch their fortune. It’s a simple logic, if you are a public official, you go with the weather,” the provincial BBM spokesperson stressed.
Coscolluela also reported the snowballing of BBM volunteer groups in the province. “This is really phenomenal,” he said.
Asked if BBM will win by a landslide in Negros Occidental, he replied “Too much for us. But I believe he will just eke out and come out as a winner.”
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, a supporter of presidential bet and Vice President Leni Robredo, yesterday likened the campaign period to a “fiesta.”
“All supporters are out in the open, supporting their respective candidates” Lacson said.
In the past three days since the local campaign period took effect March 25, the Philippine National Policehas reported no election related violence.
“We hope to maintain that in the remaining days of the campaign,” Lacson said.
He also noted health protocols being violated in local and national political rallies.
“It’s very hard to control. This is already the people speaking,” he said, adding that he is hoping that “no surge will happen after this campaign period.”*
