The frustrating presscon held by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and fellow presidentiables (and their partners for vice president), Senator Ping Lacson with partner Senate President Tito Sotto; Moreno’s partner Dr. Willie Ong, former National Security Adviser and Defense Secretary to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Norberto Gonzales (a survey tailender) just served to highlight their sexist-oriented fight against the second leading presidentiable Vice President Leni Robredo (and partner Senator Kiko Pangilinan).
They claimed that people in the camp of VP Leni talked them out of the race—asking them to withdraw to solidify the opposition against frontrunner, the son of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos and partner (vice presidentiable) Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Held at a time that Filipinos were celebrating the joyous Easter Sunday (pasko ng muling pagkabuhay of Jesus Christ) the presscon at the Manila Pen deprived the journalists of precious time to celebrate with family and friends.
Frustrating because most of the reporters were expecting an announcement that perhaps they are withdrawing in favor of the No. 2—but to their dismay it was a bombshell against the Number 2 and implicitly an advantage for Number 1.
So netizens asked
“why target No. 2 instead of ganging up on Number 1.”
Isko even went on to say that VP Leni was a liar by claiming before that she would not run for president, only to do it at the last minute. (Why I heard this line before from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and why did they not accuse her of lying).
But the most surprising of all was when Isko dared VP Leni to withdraw to give all of them a chance to fight Number 1. This showed his dream of grabbing Leni’s votes to his side. But that is just his wish, can’t be a reality, as netizens reacted vehemently against him.
Senators Lacson and Sotto are now distancing themselves from Isko saying they never expected Isko to dare VP Leni to withdraw. As if saying that’s not part of the script.
Exodus
If Moreno thought his supporters and potential voters would stand by him—after this presser—he was completely wrong. Facebook and Twitter are full of accounts saying they shifted from Isko to Leni because they could now clearly see nothing but plain self-interest in Isko Moreno.
Many netizens recall of parents, relatives, friends who were diehard Isko potential voters telling of their disgust and disappointment and of being so crazy to put their trust in him.
Even his former supporter IM Pilipinas organizers—Thomas Orbos, Elmer Argano, Rommel Abessamis, Philip Evardonne, Ed Cojuangco – in a press statement of April 17 said “ It’s unfortunate that you, Mayor Moreno, Senator Lacson and former Sec. Gonzales took the road of vindictive machismo today by attacking a lady, our dear VP Leni, who had no way of defending herself. You did so even on this Sunday of Easter – a day we should all be celebrating Christianity and all its important virtues.
IM Pilipinas is now fully supporting VP Leni and Senator Kiko.
To you, Mayor Isko, it pains us sincerely that you allude us of being paid. Is that how lowly you consider us? We worked for you without asking anything in return. It was bad enough that you never thanked us for our time, our effort and our dedication towards your campaign (not once!) – and now you suggest that our loyalty has a price. How disappointing indeed. We regret having admired and supported you.”
One thing stood out in this morning’s spectacle. The three of you spoke lengthily about how you feel and about how this call for unity has affected you. Not once did you talk about what is best for the Filipino people beyond your political ambitions. You clearly put your interest ahead of that of the country. Your discourse was telling of your characters.
As the group who has called for unity in the first place, we feel the need to defend the Vice President who has been maligned despite being a mere bystander in all this. Take your issues with us, not with her. It seems you are more scared of the No. 2 than the No. 1. Perhaps rightfully so.
Our call for unity was done with the best of intentions – that is, to save the country from six years under Marcos Junior’s lasso. The call for unity naturally morphed into a call for support of VP Leni simply because she has both the numbers and momentum to overwhelm the money, machinery and might of the Marcos-Duterte conspiracy. Over and above that, she has a passionate brigade volunteers who work tirelessly to gain votes one household at a time. Be realistic, neither of you have the numbers nor the volunteers to stage a winning rally in three weeks.
We counted on your maturity to understand our good intentions. A new coalition government could have been possible with everyone’s strengths put together. Imagine an administration having Yorme’s can-do bravado, the peace and order expertise of Lacson and the moral compass of Pacquiao -- all united under the honest leadership of President Robredo? It can still happen.
There is still time to change your mind. There is no shame in doing so. In fact, it will prove that you are above the self-destructive politics of it all.
You know as much as we do that our call for unity under the leadership of VP Leni is the only chance to save our country from the return of the Marcoses and the evil they are capable of inflicting. After all, they inflicted untold pain and suffering before and made no apologies for it. That said, we entreat you to set aside your pride, prejudice and political differences and do what is the in the best interest of our beloved land.
Bashed
Now bashed for his irresponsibility and arrogance, Isko is now blaming Leni’s camp for posting on FB a photo of him sharing a meal with Marcos Jr. not too long ago, which one could easily misjudge as an unholy alliance with the survey frontrunner.
He should have expected it from the start. He knows that VP Leni’s supporters believe wholeheartedly in her and the kind of government she represents. He should have known better than to bash her because of his political ambitions.
Another act of desperation
Reports have it that the Department of Public Works and Highways is now digging up Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City perhaps to disrupt the forthcoming birthday rally on April 23 for VP Leni. The digging is being done in such a way as to force the rally attendees to pass through the headquarters of Sara Duterte—with all those huge and massive posters and tarps—to make sure that people would change their mind about Leni-Kiko tandem.
Though I still have to see photos and footages of these actions by the government, this just shows how desperate the Uniteam is. And all the while they were bragging of an early victory of 60 percent votes, long before May 9. So why are they desperate? Perhaps they themselves do not believe their survey leads.
In FB also, Marcos Jr.’s diehard host, Toni Gonzaga, was captured saying:
“Palapit ng palapit na. Malapit na nating maibalik si BBM sa Malacanang, where he rightfully lives.” I cringed at this and told myself “huh Malacanang is the palace of the people not of a certain family.” Others said she was dreaming because we are in a democracy not a monarchy.
Let us just hope and pray that people would abide by the voice of their conscience this coming election.