Bacolod Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia said he is keeping his options open on whom to support for president even though the Villar-led Nacionalista Party (NP) announced its support for Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, March 29.
“What is definite for me is I am all out for vice president Sara Duterte and I will keep my options on the presidency open in the meantime,” Leonardia, who is a new NP member, said on Wednesday, March 30.
“For the May 2022 elections, the Nacionalista Party fully supports the candidacies of Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. for president and Sara Duterte for vice president,” Manny Villar, NP president and chairman of the national directorate, said.
“I am a new member of the Nacionalista Party… but I believe that our bosses who are the Villars are people who will listen,” said Leonardia, who added that he will talk to the leaders of the party.
Members of his Grupo Progreso will not adopt a collective position on whom to support for president, he said.
“Grupo Progreso has a degree of freedom,” Leonardia said, pointing out that Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran is openly for Vice President Leni Robredo for president and they respect that.
Familiaran’s grandmother is a Gerona, and the vice president’s maiden name is Gerona, he said.
Asked if he is meeting with presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao when he arrives in Bacolod on Friday, April 1, the mayor said “I have no control over that”.
When he was told on Tuesday that the application of the Pacquaio camp for the use of the Bacolod Public Plaza on Friday was facing some kind of slow down in the process, he interceded and told those in charge to rush the granting of a permit to the senator to hold a rally there, Leonardia said.
“He is very much welcome here,” the mayor said.
Leonardia’s political nemesis former Bacolod representative and mayor Monico Puentevella, who is handling the Pacquiao visit, said it has been decided that no rally will be held at the plaza.
Leonardia, who has not opted to support Pacquiao for president, said “I have a very complicated story…but I consider Manny a very good friend, I have my highest respect for him ever since and until now.”
He told Pacquiao he had already made a commitment to Sara Duterte, Leonardia said. “When I talked to Manny I was not yet a member of the Nacionalista Party,” he added.
Asked what he thought of the emerging Leni-Sara movement, Leonardia said “I will just stick to my position that where the vice president is concerned I am definitely for Sara and where the president is concerned I have my options open and that depends on how my talks with the party (NPC) hierarchy goes.”*