The vice president of Aksyon Demokratiko alleged that their Bacolod party chairman quit as a knee jerk reaction to his being replaced for his failure to perform.
Bo Roco, Aksyon Demokratiko vice president, at a press conference on Friday, April 29, said Ricardo “Cano” Tan had been replaced as Bacolod party chairman by provincial coordinator Mario Gerona.
Tan on Thursday said he had disaffiliated himself from the Aksyon Demokratiko party of presidential candidate Isko Moreno because of the apparent disrespect for his designation as its Bacolod chairman.
Tan was appointed Aksyon Demokratiko Bacolod chairperson by the party’s chairman Ernesto Ramel Jr. on Feb. 12, 2022.
He was disrespected when he was not informed of several activities of Moreno in Bacolod City during the political campaign, Tan said.
Moreno was in Bacolod City for a series of campaign sorties and a grand rally at the Bacolod Public Plaza on Thursday.
Roco said there appears to be conflict of interest, which Tan did not like.
Moreno, whenever he is in a certain area visits the mayor, Roco said. Moreno met with Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia at the Bacolod City Government Center on Thursday.
“Mario Gerona has been appointed chairman of Aksyon in this area, I believe that’s a knee jerk reaction to the appointment o Mario,” Roco also said of Tan’s move.
Tan was allegedly respectfully asked to move over in a letter as he was replaced by Gerona in April.
Roco said even during the first time Moreno came to Negros they were trying to get in touch with Tan but he did not respond so they had to do something else.
The campaign could not stop so they had to figure out how to make it continue even if the appointed official on the ground did not move properly, he said.
Tan said when he decided to disaffiliate from the Moreno campaign he did not even know of Gerona’s appointment. “I don’t k now him,” he said.
It is not true that he was contacted by the party of Moreno’s activities in Bacolod, Tan said.
On Bryan Cerebo’s resignation as Aksyon Demokratiko Iloilo provincial chair, Roco blamed it on his “lovelife”.
Cerebo tendered his resignation on April 28.
SURVEYS
Roco said the tide in the presidential race is changing in favor of Moreno.
Surveys showing Moreno in third place in the presidential race are tainted, Roco said.
Apparently the data gatherers were given questions to favor a certain candidate, but internal surveys show Moreno coming in second, Roco said.
“We are campaigning to win,” Roco said.
MARCOS TAX
Roco also reiterated Aksyon Demokratiko’s call for the Bureau of Internal Revenue to garnish Marcos’ bank accounts to pay for the P203 billion estate tax of the family.
The P203 billion is needed by the Philippines, especially as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, Roco said, adding that the amount could be used to build many hospitals around the country.
Despite the Marcos family saying it is dirty politics that brought out this issue, we still maintain that had they paid it when the Supreme Court ordered them to do so it would not have come up now, Roco said.
This is not dirty tricks, they should just pay the government what they owe, he stressed.*