Gordon asks voters to make a principled choice on May 10

MANILA, Philippines - Bagumbayan presidential candidate Sen. Richard Gordon yesterday signed a covenant with his supporters to make a better Filipino future even as he called on voters to make a principled choice on May 10.

“I ask every Filipino to think and to say I want change and I want it now. It does not have to be me. For as long as it is a principled choice. You will not get a principled leader if you don’t have a principled choice,” he said.

“We, the Filipino people, do not only deserve better, we deserve the best,” he added.

Gordon and his running mate former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando met their supporters in the gathering yesterday at Barbara’s Restaurant in Intramuros, Manila.

Gordon said Bagumbayan decided to stage the event inside Intramuros to coincide with the country’s commemoration of “Araw ng Kagitingan” or Day of Valor (Fall of Bataan) to stress the importance of their bid for Malacañang.

“Today is an appropriate time to hold this. We want to destroy the walls that make us mediocre,” Gordon said.

In the “Covenant for the Filipino Future” Gordon, Fernando and their supporters pledged to “work together in solving national problems and achieve shared aims and aspirations.”

The Bagumbayan candidates and their supporters vowed to establish a responsive and dedicated national police system and an effective armed forces under the full control of the civilian government; lift the people out of poverty by adopting a national economic development program; educate the people by allotting the largest share of the budget to education; establish a modern public health system; end graft and corruption by adopting a culture of integrity in the bureaucracy and in social life; collect the proper taxes; moderate the migration of workers by creating more local jobs and promote beneficial relations with other countries.

Among the groups that pledged their support for Gordon and Fernando and also signed the covenant were the Alliance of All Health Organizations of the Nation (AAHON), the United Filipino Seafarers, the Tricycle Drivers and Operators of Manila, the Upsilon Sigma Phi Alumni Association-Diliman Chapter, Teachers Inc., Alliance of Concerned Tarlaquenos, the Cordillera Bodong Administration and Turismo Pilipinas, the country’s largest grouping of tourism-related businesses.

Singer Bituin Escalante, the comic duo of Moymoy Palaboy and Roadfill, singer Aiza Seguera and equestrienne Toni Leviste also pledged their support for Gordon and Fernando.

Gordon had appeared in one of Moymoy Palaboy’s videos that was posted on YouTube and where he is seen dancing with the duo as they lip-synch “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” Meanwhile, Gordon said he is confident of getting the absentee votes of overseas Filipinos who will be casting their votes ahead of the May 10 polls.

“I have been performing well among overseas Filipinos. They had a mock election in Singapore and I placed number one,” he said.