ILOILO CITY—In a show of unflinching support for Lakas-KAMPI-CMD standard-bearer Gibo Teodoro, more and more local political stalwarts have vowed to turn Iloilo into “Gibo country.”
Raul Gonzales, Sr. a former justice secretary who is now running for mayor, said members of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD in the city are solidly behind Gibo’s bid to lead the country in the next six years.
“Iloilo is now also a “Gibo Country,” said Gonzales, also the party chairman in the city, which has some 240,000 voters.
His son, Iloilo City Rep. Raul Gonzales, Jr. who is seeking a last term, assured Gibo they will campaign hard for him in the locality to ensure he’ll lord over the votes in this city among the presidential contenders.
“Gibo will be the next president of our country. He’s the most prepared candidate to run the Philippines,” Rep. Gonzales said.
Prior to the rally at the Freedom Grandstand that drew a huge crowd of 20,000, Gibo met with Gonzales, Sr., House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor and Rep. Jannette Garin (1st district, Iloilo province) at the Hotel del Rio here.
Emerging from the closed-door meeting, Defensor, who is gunning for the gubernatorial post, told the local media that Gibo does not need to ask for his help in as far as campaigning in the province’s more than a million voters.
“Since the outset, I’m committed to Gibo,” said Defensor, who has served the province as three-term governor.
Garin, who is running unopposed in the first district, vowed to also help Gibo in her district.
“We’ll campaign for him and no other else in our district,” said Garin, who belongs to an influential political clan in the province that is headed by former congressman and now Philippine Coconut Authority chief Oscar Garin.
The groundswell of support for Gibo is not only contained in this city but in other parts of the province as well.
Expressing support to Gibo, Passi City Mayor Jesry Palmares expressed confidence that Gibo would emerge the landslide winner in his locality with 47,000 voters.
“Gibo has a clear platform of government. He is brilliant and exudes a no-nonsense kind of leadership. The very first time I met him, he immediately caught my attention,” Palmares said.
“His honesty and sincerity to serve this country impressed me so much,” the mayor added.
Vice Mayor Simeon Ganzon of Balasan town, which has almost 17,000 voters, also vowed full support for Gibo, noting they are bringing the campaign for him in the grassroots.
“He’s the best candidate among the presidential pack. His ideas are very good and he has a clear platform of government,” said Ganzon, who served Balasan town as mayor for three terms from 1998 to 2007.
Ganzon, Lakas-Kampi-CMD bet for vice mayor, said the president of the town’s Association of Barangay Captains, who is also an ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Bayan, is also behind Gibo.
Jett Rojas, a Sangguniang Panlalawigan member from the fifth district of Iloilo province, said that Gibo has strong support from the localities of Ajuy, Concepcion, Batad and San Isidro coming from the incumbent mayors.
“We’re working hard for Gibo to emerge winner in our district. It’s regrettable for the Filipino people if he will not become our president,” said Rojas, a former three-term mayor of Ajuy town.
Rojas noted that Gibo is the only presidential bet with a clear platform of government, which is anchored on the battle cry “Sulong Pilipinas,” on how to improve the country for Filipinos to have better lives.
Come-backing mayoralty bet Felipe Bernal of Carles town said he’s sticking to the party line, vowing they’ll campaign hard for him to ensure he’ll corner majority of the more than 35,000 voters.
“Seventeen barangay captains are with Gibo out of the 33 villages,” said Bernal, who was a three-term town mayor until 2007.
“Gibo deserves to be president because he’s intelligent and is a principled-man,” he stressed.
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