MANILA, Philippines — A faction of a volunteer group that carried President Rodrigo Duterte to Malacañang in 2016 is now backing Vice President Leni Robredo, believing that the independent presidential candidate is the best bet to thwart a return of the Marcoses to the Palace.
Leaders of the Bulacan chapter of Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte – Agila, who claimed to have “hundreds of thousands” of members, announced Wednesday their support for Robredo and joined IM K Leni, another volunteer group that previously supported Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso but switched to the vice president.
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“Kailangan pong magkaisa ng tao, lalo po iyong mga naniniwala na hindi naman talaga naging maganda, mas madaming dilim kaysa liwanag ang binigay ng rehimeng Marcos, kaya sabi namin kailangan na naming pumihit,” said Elmer Argano, secretary general of IM K Leni, at a press conference.
(The people must unite, especially those who believe that the Marcos regime was not good as it brought more darkness than light, which is why we needed to pivot.)
Argano continued, “Ang may pinakamalakas na kakayanan para labanan ito ay walang iba kundi ang kampo ng Vice President Leni Robredo.”
(The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo has the strongest capability to fight this and no one else.)
Leaders of the MRRD faction heaped praises onto Robredo, hailing her “good leadership” and “concern for the people,” and appealed to other leaders of the Duterte volunteer group to back the vice president in the race to Malacañang.
“Ito na po ang labanan between the beast and the beauty. Kailangan na po nating isalba ang bayan. Hindi po natin kailangan ibigay ang ating boto kay beast,” said Sofia Macmod, one of the directors of the group.
(This is a fight between the beast and the beauty. We need to save the nation. We do not need to give our votes to the beast.)
While this MRRD faction is supporting Robredo, they are silent on who their pick for vice president would be, even as some of them wore shirts bearing the face of Duterte's daughter and vice-presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Splinter groups, defections
This is at least the third group to splinter from MRRD, with all three organizations backing different presidential candidates.
One MRRD group, led by former Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones, is backing Moreno, while another is supporting former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and the Bulacan chapter of MRRD – Agila is endorsing Robredo.
The split, at least for Macmod, happened not just because of their desires to back different presidential candidates, but also due to disagreements with their leader, Manuel Sierra. She preferred not to elaborate.
"Nagkaroon kami ng sariling desisyon, humiwalay kami [dahil sa] bulok na pamamalakad ng aming pangulo," she said.
(We decided for ourselves, we split from them because of the rotten leadership of our president.)
Then there’s also some resentment on the part of IM K Leni leaders, who shared their displeasure at how their requests were not accommodated by Moreno when they were still campaigning for him.
They said that the Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer visited their localities without coordinating with them, leaving them clueless and feeling snubbed.
“Paano na lang iyong kapakanan ng taongbayan kung ultimo itong kandidato natin, hindi natin makasundo? Ibig sabihin, iyong mga gusto natin, hindi mapagbigyan,” said former Environment Assistant Secretary Rommel Abesamis, who is one of the leaders of IM K Leni.
(What could happen to the concerns of the people if even our candidate we can’t get along with? This means that he cannot accommodate the things that we want.)