Duterte to attend PDP-Laban campaign kickoff today

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte will drum up support for his inner circle senatorial bets from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) during the kickoff of the party’s campaign for the midterm polls today. 

PDP-Laban, a moribund political party until Duterte dominated the 2016 presidential race, is fielding five senatorial candidates, three of them former appointees of the President: corrections and national police chief Ronald dela Rosa, presidential aide Christopher Go and political affairs adviser Francis Tolentino.

Completing the ticket are PDP-Laban president Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu. 

The opening salvo of the ruling party will be held in San Jose del Monte town in vote-rich Bulacan, according to media advisories sent by Malacañang and PDP-Laban.

It will be the first campaign sortie to be attended by Duterte, who has vowed to help candidates who supported his presidential bid. 

Another coalition aligned with the administration, the Hugpong ng Pagbabago led by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, launched its campaign last Tuesday in Pampanga.

The President skipped the event supposedly to attend to pressing matters. All five PDP-Laban senatorial bets are part of the Hugpong, which is carrying 13 candidates. 

PDP-Laban national campaign manager Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who was part of the senatorial ticket of the rival United Nationalist Alliance in 2016, is also expected to attend today’s campaign launch.

Of the five PDP-Laban candidates, two are in the top 12 of the latest senatorial survey. 

Go, who has been very visible in tarpaulins and whose life was featured in a popular drama anthology, jumped from 15-16th place to 5th-6th place, according to a recent Social Weather Stations poll commissioned by a certain Jess Abalos.

Pimentel ranked 10th in the survey which was conducted from Jan. 23 to 26. 

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo previously said Duterte’s endorsement would boost the chances of candidates who are supportive of the administration’s agenda. 

“The President… as he said, will endorse certain candidates of his choice so presumably he will be actively campaigning since he is not prohibited by law to do so,” Panelo told reporters in Malacañang last Feb. 11. 

“An endorsement could translate into votes, given the popularity of the President, but then again the ultimate judgment will be on the part of the people,” he added. 

Despite his optimism, Panelo said it was too early to predict the outcome of the senatorial race. 

“I cannot predict anything. Perhaps we will have a clearer picture one week before (the election). Too early for that,” Panelo said. 

“Regardless of whoever will win, the victory will be on the electorate because it’s their choice that will win,” he added. 

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles urged voters to go for candidates who are in favor of a shift to a federal form of government.

Dela Rosa, for his part, received flak for his lewd comments during the first campaign sortie in Pampanga last Tuesday.

He jokingly said the best way to learn the local dialect is to kiss a female resident “lips-to-lips.” 

Dela Rosa said he will not apologize to whoever was offended by his remarks. “I never meant that. It was just a joke,” he said.

He accused the “dilawans” or yellow supporters of the opposition Liberal Party of imputing malice to his statements. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Robertzon Ramirez, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Bebot Sison, Eva Visperas, Jose Rodel Clapano