ADMINISTRATION standard bearer Manuel Roxas II said Wednesday he was confident Cebu province would still deliver for him in the coming elections, even as the opposition claimed that the country’s vote-rich province was already “Binay Country.”
The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay wants to secure the more than 2.7 million votes from Cebu to avoid a repeat of Binay’s defeat there by Roxas by securing the support of the influential Garcia and Rama political clans.
Binay spokesman’s former Cainta Mayor Mon Ilagan, said Monday several local officials from different provinces, including Cebu, would be leaving the administration party and that Roxas would be defeated in those provinces.
“This is the confirmation of what JV Bautista said last week that more local officials from other parties would be joining the UNA to support the vice president,” Ilagan said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Roxas on Wednesday denied a claim by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, a presidential aspirant, that he, Roxas, is giving away farm implements in the provinces despite El Niño.
“Roxas is giving away farm implements. If you really want to help farmers, the soil is cracking all over, El Niño is here,” Duterte told dzBB radio.
“We are down in our production of food and you give them plows. That’s politics and stupidity.”
Roxas underscored the opposition’s declaration: “Maybe that’s just a work of their imagination because the Ramas are not our allies, even the Garcias. That’s why the straight path machinery is very solid in Cebu,” he said in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental on Wednesday.
A tarpaulin containing the message “Welcome to Binay Country!” drew flak from netizens on Monday after it was allegedly posted by the camp of suspended Cebu City Mayor and UNA Visayas chairman Michael Rama, saying he was giving Binay much leeway in campaigning in Cebu.
With the One Cebu party of the Garcias expressing their support for Binay, he is said to be assured of the votes from their controlled territories in the second and third districts. The fourth district of the Salimbagons, Garcia’s allies, are also backing Binay.
Roxas, meanwhile, is heavily leaning on the political clout of incumbent Governor Hilario Davide III, the LP’s provincial chairman in Cebu and the support from the Gullas clan of the local Alayon party from the first district and the Quisumbings of the sixth district.
The newly created seventh district in the province, which was carved out from the second district, could prove beneficial to the candidacy of Binay.
During the 2010 elections, Binay got a little over 400,000 votes against Roxas’ one million when the two ran for the vice presidential derby. Nevertheless, Binay won the vice presidency.