Even w/ other party S. Leyte solon still supports PNoy, bets

MAASIN CITY, Philippines  â€“Representative Roger “Oging” Mercado (Southern Leyte), who is running for governor on May 13, made clear to the Southern Leyteños that his local team, despite President Aquino’s endorsement of the other bets of the Liberal Party here, is supporting the president and his senatorial slate.

Oging said his support and that of his allies here remain with the president. Together with majority of the incumbents of the province, Oging and his brother Gov. Damian Mercado, who is running for Congress, are under the Nationalist Unity Party (NUP).

He said the NUP is an ally of the president and would support the latter and his senatorial bets “unequivocally” even if PNoy had effectively rebuffed them by endorsing their opponents under the LP.

The congressman admitted that the president’s statement about an “agreement” with NUP was true, but this fell apart after Secretary Jesse Robredo died.

Marissa Lerias, LP’s bet for Congress was Robredo’s protégé at the Kaya Natin Movement, said Oging, adding that a condition for the alliance was to put Lerias as their bet for Congress.

Oging said  he was prepared to run for vice-governor or even for Provincial Board member, because his brother Damian still had one more term to go.

However, the alliance fell apart when Lerias allegedly began making demands that were not part of the original agreement, such as fielding around seven mayors of her choice in the various towns. This offended the incumbents who did not like the idea that Lerias wanted to have them replaced, said Oging.

This also resulted in a political fix that even the Bishop of Maasin wrote a letter supporting their current political setup as ideal and that there was no need to fix what was not broken, said the congressman.

Oging said that, despite the president’s personally campaigning for the LP slate here, he and his team will not reneged on their support to him and his senatorial bets, and they would work hard to prove this matter to the president . “It’s just the state of local politics in the province,” he said.

Oging said he was a colleague of PNoy when the latter was still congressman. “I admire the president so much and what he has done in three years. It is quite sad to note that he only has three years more to go and so much still has to be done,” he said, adding that PNoy is the epitome of a good president. — (FREEMAN)