• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Senate bid of former Commission on Audit (COA) head Heidi Mendoza got the support of former Negros Occidental Governor Rafael Coscolluela, who led the campaign of former Vice President Leni Robredo in the province during the 2022 presidential elections, along with women and urban poor groups.
Coscolluela is helping the campaigns of independent senatorial candidates, including Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, aside from Mendoza.
“The candidacy of Heidi is beginning to reflect the same kind of spontaneous response to what is right from people, who even don’t know Heidi,” the former governor said.
Coscolluela said he got messages from some people in Negros Occidental, asking him what help they can offer Mendoza.
“We saw this in 2022, when Leni ran for president,” he recalled.
“I am beginning to see this kind of phenomenon with Heidi. People who previously did not think of getting involved in this year’s elections are beginning to come forward and say how we can help”, Coscolluela said.
This is the first “magic” that we are seeing, people with spontaneous response to something that is right, the former governor said as he thanked Mendoza “for daring to come forward.”
This is not something you will see from candidates of the administration, or the other camp, he said, apparently referring to the senatorial aspirants of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and that of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Coscolluela also recalled that when Leni Robredo was a candidate for the vice president in 2016, she started with one percent. Because of the magic, all of a sudden, from nowhere, she became the vice president, he said.
Mendoza admitted that she has no political machinery for a nationwide campaign, and is not discouraged by not being in the top 12 senatorial bets, based on Senate race survey results.
But the former COA commissioner said she is optimistic that she can also get the support of the supporters of former Vice President Leni Robredo, who won in Negros Occidental during the 2022 presidential elections.
Stressing on the competence, integrity, and courage of Mendoza to stand up for what is right, Coscolluela appealed to Negrenses to give Mendoza a chance to serve the country as a senator.
Women empowerment advocates, Atty. Andrea Lizares-Si, Bacolod City Councilor Celia Flor, former Department of Education regional director Juliet Jeruta, and Joy Jarabelo of the urban poor sector, also rallied behind Mendoza.
“We believe that if we have more women in government, there will be more honesty, more accountability, focus would be more on services that the people need, not by enriching themselves,” Si stressed.*
