Cutie or Raul? Del Mars still Undecided

CEBU, Philippines - Two days before the filing of the certificate of candidacy (COC) ends, the Del Mars have yet to decide who to field for Congress in Cebu City’s North District.

Raul del Mar, the former congressman, clarified that they would like to defer deciding on the matter and gave his daughter, the incumbent Rep. Rachel del Mar, to choose which COC she would submit to the Commission on Elections tomorrow, Friday.

“I’m expected to decide because I am the father. But in this case, I will make her decide. We will both prepare our COC. I will hand it over to Cutie and she will be the one to decide which COC to file before the Comelec,” the older Del Mar said in a press conference yesterday.

 “In our case, we are not fighting each other to be the one to run,” he added. He stressed, though, that Cutie “deserves a second term because of her good performance, even a third term.”

For her part, Cutie said if her father runs now and finishes his term, she can still come back later on because she is much younger.

The former congressman said that whoever ends up as the candidate still has the support of the different barangay officials and political leaders. “They told us that whoever will run is alright with them because both of us have been serving them.”

Meanwhile, as to their rival Annabelle Rama’s claim that she is already the winner in the race, Del Mar said it is “still early to claim victory.”

Congressional aspirant Rama, in an earlier interview, said the support from the people she meets everyday give her the confidence. Rama has yet to file her COC.

Cutie also denied that they were behind the pseudo Twitter accounts which Annabelle claimed were made to attack her. “We’ve never been one to attack people running against us. We don’t attack below the belt. We don’t even retaliate,” she explained.

“We are not in the habit of destroying people to make us look better,” she added.

For her part, in a separate interview, Annabelle said she does not care whoever of the two will run against her in the north district, as she can defeat any of the two.

“I really don’t care. Bisag kinsa pa nilang duha, andam ko. Bisag sila pang duha,” she said. — (FREEMAN)