- MITCH M. LIPA
Negros Occidental is targeted to deliver 1.5 million votes for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for president and Sara Duterte for vice president, said UniTeam Negros Occidental spokesperson and former Murcia mayor Esteban Coscolluela.
With more than 1.9 million registered voters, Coscolluela said that Negros Occidental is a vote-rich province and they expect to secure 80 percent of the total votes from the province for Marcos and Duterte in the May 9 elections.
He said the 28 mayors, who pledged their support to the BBM-Sara tandem, remain intact and are now strengthening their campaign in their own town or city.
Coscolluela pointed out that during the 2016 elections, then presidential candidate Mar Roxas received substantial votes from Negros Occidental because majority of the mayors supported him.
Now that the mayors shifted their support to Marcos Jr., the UniTeam is confident that the chief executives will be instrumental in delivering the votes for their candidate.
Coscolluela also said that the “pink community should remain cool” in dealing with issues as the UniTeam wants to bring the campaign to a higher level. Violence and resentment among friends and family members who are supporting different candidates should be avoided, he added.
The former mayor of Murcia also said that the result of the latest survey is a strong indication that the people want a new generation of Marcos to lead them.
The BBM-Sara camp is not affected by the propaganda of a “sea of rally attendees” by the other camp, Coscolluela said.
He also defended Marcos for not attending the presidential debate set by the Commission on Elections, citing Marcos’ vulnerability to personal attacks from the other candidates on the issues hounding the legacy of his father.
With 33 more days left before the elections, Coscolluela said the senatorial lineup of the UniTeam might visit Negros Occidental for individual campaign sorties. | MML
