Citing poor showing in running surveys conducted by various pollsters, Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta on Wednesday confirmed that he is dropping his senatorial bid.
“After a grueling four-month campaign sorties in several parts of the country, where he spoke before large crowds of UniTeam and PDP-Laban rallies, Deputy Speaker Dante Marcoleta decided to drop his senatorial bid for the May 9, 2022 polls,” a statement from Marcoleta said.
Marcoleta said that “the fighter in me should also be brave enough to read the writings on the wall. Let’s call a spade a spade.”
Marcoleta also thanked President Duterte for encouraging him to run for senator, for his trust, and for his positive and generous endorsements, together with the efforts of PDP-Laban and the People’s Reform Party who also adopted him lately as its senatorial candidate.
He also thanked the UniTeam for including him in its senatorial slate and for the enriching experience of speaking before multitudes who defied heat and pouring rains in some rallies.
“I will be indebted forever to several people who chipped in their resources, time and tons of hardwork into my memorable campaign. I thank the hundreds of parallel support groups and thousand of volunteers who believed in my advocacies and the measures that must be pursued for the common good. I just hope that they will all be so kind and accommodating enough to understand.”
He also clarified that his withdrawal will not deter him from his all-out and continuing support for the BBM-Sara tandem, and for all the senators in the UniTeam and PDPLaban slates.
“The BBM-Sara tandem exemplifies the politics of unity and working together, despite the divergent political persuasions, for the sake of the motherland—an element that is conspicuously absent in other teams”, Marcoleta said VP bet endorses ‘rival’ Tito Sotto in the May polls.
Vice presidential candidate Rizalito David officially endorsed his rival Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
David however clarified said that he is not withdrawing from the race.
“I have officially endorsed Senate President Tito Sotto for Vice President… Sen. Sotto is a decent man, a gentleman, a good family man, and knows his Catholic Faith. The Catholic Church owes him a lot in so far as the Church’s pro-life advocacy is concerned,” David in an interview with ABS-CBN News said, adding that “Sotto is the best man for the job.”
David is running under the Democratic Party of the Philippines.
“I don’t have to withdraw from the race because it might get complicated. The votes that would have gone to me would be considered spoiled. But what if they transfer it to another candidate?” David said.
He said he would be supporting Sotto in the remaining days of the campaign period leading to May 9.
David added that he is endorsing Sotto “because they share the same values and advocacies, particularly the pro-life movement in the country.”
“There were initiatives from the other side where Sotto played a big role in preventing them from pushing through, such as same-sex marriage, decriminalization of abortion, euthanasia, and divorce,” David in the ABS-CBN report said.
David further said that Sotto “has the best chance of defeating their other rival, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who remains the frontrunner in the vice-presidential race based on the latest Pulse Asia pre-election survey.”