Isko Moreno still hopeful of getting Duterte's endorsement before elections
MANILA, Philippines — Manila City Mayor and Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer Isko Moreno Domagoso said he was still hopeful that he can receive President Rodrigo Duterte's endorsement for the presidency later on, pointing out that there are still 61 days left in the campaign period.
“I'm not [worried,] it's not May yet,” he told reporters at the Tarlac Provincial Capitol where his campaign team was being hosted to a lunch by Gov. Susan Yap, Vice Governor Carlito David and provincial board members. "As long as there is no election, there is hope. The way I preach, the way I tell people not to give up, not to lose hope."
Earlier in Tabuk City, Kalinga province, Moreno told reporters he is still hopeful that he will get President Duterte’s endorsement for his presidential bid.
The 47-year-old presidential aspirant said that whatever happens between now and the May 9 elections, he is inspired by the heartwarming support he and his fellow Aksyon Demokratiko candidates get from the ordinary people wherever they go.
“Let us persevere, let us work hard, we will really persuade our Filipino compatriots anywhere in the Philippines and we will not stop. And I'm hoping for all the help. Now if by chance, for example, President Duterte helps me, he endorses me, that's a huge bonus. Of course I would like that right? Who doesn't want to be voted for by the president of the country, ”Moreno said.
Moreno reiterated his belief that his candidacy has the support of the "silent majority" despite the results of pre-election surveys.
“The way I see it, and I know you see too, maybe it can't be denied, that the crowd, the welcome and the warmth of the reception of the people, no matter which corner of our country we go, as well as the mountains that place, you feel it,” Moreno told reporters.
This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte at an inauguration of a farmers market in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, a known bailiwick of the Marcoses, told voters to select an Ilocano they want to install in Malacañang.
In a statement sent to reporters, Moreno's campaign team said that even in provinces that are supposedly part of the so-called Solid North, Ilocanos and members of indigenous tribes welcome the Manila chief.
Moreno's team pointed to the warm reception of the crowds in Pangasinan and La-Union in Region I; and Qurino, Isabela, Cagayan and Kalinga in Region 2.
RELATED: Here's what you need to know about presidential candidate Isko Moreno
What has Duterte said?
President Duterte’s latest pronouncement was made in front of Ilocanos. Duterte did not mention any presidential candidate during his speech but enumerated his Ilocano appointees in the government.
The president also said the husband of his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is an Ilocano from Paoay in Ilocos Norte. Carpio is running for vice president under the UniTeam alliance led by presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son and namesake of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who was overthrown in 1986.
Last November, Duterte, who allowed a hero's burial for the former president despite protests from Martial Law victims, called the younger Marcos a "weak leader" and rejected a possible coalition between his and his daughter's political parties.
"I am not impressed by him. He is really a weak leader," Duterte said in mixed Filipino and English during a meeting with local leaders in Oriental Mindoro last November 19.
"He is really weak because he was a spoiled child, only son. Of course, he can talk. He delivers English, articulate. He studied outside (the country). But if say, there is a crisis? He is a weak leader and he has baggage," he added.
Earlier this month, Duterte said all candidates running for president are qualified but he is not endorsing any of them “at this time.”
“Unless there is a compelling reason really for me to change my mind and decide to support a candidate,” the president said in a public address last February 7.
Moreno has admitted he would welcome President Duterte into his Senate slate with open arms, months after the tensions first flared between the two.
Asked about his relationship with the chief executive, he said earlier: "Duterte did many things that can be copied and continued, but the things he did that weren’t very good, they should be criticized." He did not expound on what he felt these were. — Franco Luna
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