AROUND 80,000 supporters in Maguindanao rallied behind United Nationalist Alliance standard bearer Jejomar Binay on Tuesday afternoon during the proclamation rally for the party’s local candidates.
Binay said Mindanao will be given the attention it needs under his administration, noting the problem of poverty that, he said, has fueled unrest and uncertainty in the South.
“Nararamdaman ko ang kagustuhan ninyong pagbabago na ang Mindanao naman ay kilalaning kasama ng Pilipinas,” Binay said.
“Dapat bigyan ng atensyon, dapat mabigyan ng lahat ng tulong sapagka’t pare-pareho po tayong Pilipino.”
Binay was joined by UNA senatorial candidates broadcaster Rey Langit, former Special Action Force director Getulio Napeñas, Parañaque councilor Alma Moreno, Sulu Princess Jacel Kiram and labor lawyer Allan Montaño, as well as local candidates and allies.
Binay shared the stage with several Ampatuan clan members during the party’s huge proclamation rally on Tuesday afternoon.
Foremost among the members of the influential political family who joined Binay on stage was former provincial vice governor Sajid Ampatuan, the youngest son of the late ex-governor and clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr.
Before the program was over, Sajid raised Binay’s hand in endorsing his presidential bid before some 80,000 supporters.
Sajid is running for mayor in the nearby town of Shariff Aguak, which nearly seven years ago bore witness to the election-related killings.
Like his late father Andal Sr. and brother, former Shariff Aguak mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., Sajid was charged with 58 counts of murder in connection with the “Maguindanao Massacre.” The mayoralty candidate was allegedly among the plotters of the incident.
However, Sajid was able to post a bail bond of P11.6 million or P200,000 per murder case in March 2015, thus facilitating his temporary freedom. He is the only one among the accused to do so in the six-year long trial.
Andal Jr. remains incarcerated along with a hundred other defendants in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, while his father and namesake, Andal Sr., succumbed to liver cancer on July 17, 2015.