It is going to be a heated fight for the presidency in Negros Occidental, former Murcia Mayor Sonny Coscolluela, provincial spokesman of the Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte Carpio campaign, said Monday, March 14.
“I am not a prophet to really predict but if the figures are to be understood, it is very hard to stop BBM, he’ll be the next president,” he said, in an apparent reference to the survey results.
“This is where we determine who are the real mayor leaders in our towns and cities,” he said, with 28 mayors of Negros Occidental having committed to support Marcos.
Coscolluela pointed out that in 2016 presidential candidate Mar Roxas and his runningmate Leni Robredo won in Negros with 29 mayors at the time supporting them.
“Now this is the opposite, 28 have signed up and committed to support BBM-Sara so their leadership will be tested vis-à-vis this so called civil society (supporters of Robredo),” he said.
“This will really be a fight with the leadership of the mayors and the promise to deliver vis-à-vis that group they call civil society,” he said.
If you are a mayor you would go for Marcos because if he wins big in your town or city it will be easy to access national funding, Coscolluela said.
On the statement that Bacolod and Negros is pink country, Coscolluela said everybody is free to make a claim.
The Robredo rally drew 70,000 at the Paglaum Stadium in Bacolod City, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
The crowds at the Robredo rallies in San Carlos City were 3,000, Kabankalan City – 5,000, La Carlota City – 5,000, Binalbagan – 2,000, and Hinigaran – 2,000 on Friday, the organizers also said.
“I will not dispute that, that is their right, this will be an endless squabble if we do that. Granting that they really go that I would like to congratulate them,” he said.
Coscolluela said he would also like to congratulate the BBM supporters for bringing the campaign to a higher level and not allowing a repeat of what happened to the caravan of Marcos in Talisay City where he was heckled by Robredo supporters and a campaign flier landed on his face.
“In fact when the Robredo supporters passed by the campaign headquarters of BBM and Sara they were given food and sandwiches”, he said.
Coscolluela said rallies and caravans do not make up candidates votes.
When Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco ran for president his rallies in Bago, Bacolod and Silay were a security nightmare because they drew huge crowds, he said. Everybody was saying Cojuangco would win in Negros big but he came out third, he added.
It was a realization that the people attended not because of the candidate but because Sharon Cuneta who was at her peak was there, he said, adding that the Robredo rally in Bacolod also brought in many stars.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who is supporting Robredo, will have some influence on the voters but what is surprising is the officials in his hometown of San Carlos are for Marcos, Coscolluela said.
He said all he is asking of the May 9 elections is that it be peaceful and respectable.*