In a press statement, NPC-LDP-PMP chairman and Parañaque City Councilor Gene Puzon said he personally told Marquez of the decision to abandon Olivarez shortly after Marquez and his partymates filed their certificates of candidacy Friday at the local Commission on Elections office.
"We have completely divorced ourselves from Olivarez," Puzon told Marquez at the latter’s office "From now on, we have nothing to do with him."
To the cheers of the incumbent mayor’s friends and supporters who thronged the city hall that day in an overwhelming show of support, Puzon said his party was adopting Marquez as its own candidate for mayor of Parañaque as well.
Marquez had beaten Olivarez for the position of mayor in the last two elections.
Olivarez and Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez, the two persons rumored to be opposing Marquez in the May elections, have yet to file their certificates of candidacy.
Puzon said his party is also adopting Marquez’s running mate and incumbent Vice Mayor Jun Bernabe as its own candidate.
Puzon, however, clarified that although his group is supporting Marquez and Bernabe, they are fielding their own candidates for the positions of congressman and councilors.
Civic leader, realtor and former Public Estates Authority chairman Ed "Edza" Zialcita is running for congressman under Marquez’s ticket.