Mar asks rivals to reveal truth about themselves

NAGA CITY, Cebu, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II yesterday challenged his rivals to disclose important details about themselves following Sen. Grace Poe’s admission that her husband had served with the United States Air Force.

While Roxas declined to react to Poe’s admission, he stressed the need for candidates to reveal the “whole truth” about themselves as it would help voters decide in the upcoming polls.  

“I don’t like to give a commentary about that. They might say that we are behind the website (that discussed the background of Poe’s husband),” Roxas told reporters in a campaign sortie here.

“But for us candidates, now is the time to tell the whole truth about ourselves, our identity, our background to the entire nation,” he added. Roxas said such disclosure would allow voters to learn about their track record, capability and personality.

“In the end, our personality will guarantee how we will act in case we win as president or vice president,” the LP standard bearer said.

“This is the truth. All of these happened and these are not just sweet talk,” he added.

Roxas said Poe did not discuss her husband’s stint in the US military when she was still his ally. The LP had tried to persuade Poe to run as vice president.

Roxas, however, could not help but allude to questions about Poe’s citizenship.

“If I win the presidency, you can be sure 110 percent that I am a Filipino and I have spent my entire life for the development of Filipinos,” he added.

Earlier, the website Open Source Investigations claimed that Poe’s husband Teodoro Llamanzares served in the US military from 1988 to 1992. The website said Poe lived in a US Air Force base housing in Washington from 1991 to 1992.

According to Open Source Investigations, Poe is not telling the truth about her life in the United States and her husband.

“In a sovereign state, the idea of a first gentleman who is a citizen of a foreign country and served for several years in that foreign country’s army is unthinkable,” the website said.

“It’s a simple question of loyalty. Grace Poe’s loyalty to the Philippines is more than questionable. Her husband’s allegiance is doubtful,” it added.

In an earlier interview, Poe said all the information contained in the website were “public records” and she did not intend to hide them from the voters.

Poe also noted that some of the country’s leaders studied in US military educational institutions, like former president Fidel Ramos and former Parañaque representative Roilo Golez.

Tight race seen

The governor of Cebu, a crucial battleground province, sees a close fight between Roxas, his ally, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as political parties firm up their local machinery a month before the elections.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said the Cebuano-speaking Duterte would be Roxas’ toughest rival in this province, which has the biggest number of voters in the country. There are about 2.7 million registered voters in this province or nearly five percent of the entire voting population in the Philippines.

“Our assessment would be Duterte because he is Cebuano-speaking and voters tend to identify with the one who speaks their language,” Davide told reporters in an interview yesterday. “I think it will be a tight race between Mar and Duterte.”

While Davide declined to say how many votes he can deliver for Roxas, he vowed to do his best to ensure victory.

“I can’t promise but we will try our best to ensure his victory here,” he added.

Another Roxas’ ally, Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr., was also non-committal with regard to the number of votes they can contribute to the LP standard bearer.

“Let’s not talk about numbers. I cannot promise anything. We’ll do everything we can to make him win,” Gullas said.

“You can’t deny that Mayor Duterte is a Bisaya, but secretary Mar also comes from the Visayas and I would say it will also play a part when the people of Cebu vote for him,” he added.  

Duterte has the backing of the One Cebu Party, which vowed to deliver one million votes to the tough-talking mayor.

The local party, led by its gubernatorial candidate Winston Garcia, used to support the presidential bid of Vice President Jejomar Binay, standard bearer of the United Nationalist Alliance.

Impossible dream

Davide, however, believes that One Cebu cannot deliver on its promise to Duterte.

“That’s impossible,” the provincial governor said.

Gullas admitted that One Cebu’s endorsement would have an impact on the upcoming polls but remains confident that Roxas’ local machinery would make him win.

“There’s also the endorsement of Junjun Davide and a lot of incumbent mayors will propel secretary Mar (to victory).”

Roxas, for his part, dismissed Duterte’s endorsers as “discredited politicians,” an apparent reference to the graft cases filed against some members of the Garcia clan.

Roxas defeated Binay in Cebu by more than half a million votes during the 2010 vice presidential race. The victory, however, was not enough to catapult Roxas to the second highest post as he lost to Binay by more than 700,000 votes at the national level. – With Paolo Romero