GMA begins Metro Manila campaign in QC

President Arroyo barnstormed vote-rich Quezon City yesterday and said she counts on the performance of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. — whom she described as the "most outstanding mayor in the country today" — to be translated into votes for her candidacy in the May polls.

Mrs. Arroyo took her Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan para sa Kinabukasan (K-4) candidates to the hustings in Quezon City a day after she was reported to have topped the latest election survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS). The survey, however, indicated that she does not enjoy the support of most voters in Metro Manila.

Mrs. Arroyo conducted her campaign rally at the Manresa covered court at the corner of Makaturing and Biak-na-Bato streets in San Francisco del Monte — just behind FPJ Studios owned by her chief rival for the presidency, actor Fernando Poe Jr.

Barangay leaders of Manresa and tricycle drivers wearing "Gloria" caps in red, blue and yellow lined the FPJ Studios’ outer fence as the presidential motorcade passed through Biak-na-Bato Street. A few of Poe’s supporters jeered but Mrs. Arroyo and her vice-presidential running mate Sen. Noli de Castro gamely waved back at them.

At the rally later that day, the President spoke highly of the re-electionist team of Belmonte and Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista.

Mrs. Arroyo told Quezon City residents she is particularly proud to have Belmonte and Sen. Manuel Villar, who joined the rally yesterday, in her team.

"We have two former Speakers of the House who figured prominently during the impeachment trial of (then President Joseph) Estrada," she said. "And especially Mayor Belmonte, who is the most outstanding mayor in our country today."

But since the campaign for local elective posts has yet to start, Mrs. Arroyo said she will not yet make any campaign endorsement for Belmonte and Bautista.

Nonetheless, the two Quezon City officials raised the hands of the President, De Castro and Berna Puyat-Romulo, the K-4 candidate to represent Quezon City in the House of Representatives and a daughter of Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo.

K-4 campaign manager Gabriel Claudio told The STAR that Quezon City alone has 671,871 registered voters, comprising the single largest vote area in Metro Manila.

The K-4 motorcade had gone to Quezon City after a rally in Marikina, and then went to Caloocan City. Marikina has a total of 138,775 registered voters while Caloocan has 303,931.

On her way to the Caloocan City rally, the President made whistle stops at the public markets in Balintawak and Muñoz and shook hands with vendors and customers.

Presidential campaign spokesman Michael Defensor, a former Quezon City congressman, said the Metro Manila leg of the K-4 campaign had been planned way ahead, even before the results of the latest SWS survey were released.

He conceded that Metro Manila is "pro-opposition country" but is optimistic that Mrs. Arroyo can change their minds.

In the latest SWS survey, conducted from Feb. 17 to 25, Poe fell to second spot with 30.5 percent, trailing Mrs. Arroyo’s 31.8 percent.

The previous SWS poll taken at the beginning of February had shown Poe with a commanding lead of 37 percent over Mrs. Arroyo’s 28.7 percent.