GO's Cayetano visits family of namesake in Davao

DAVAO CITY – In what he described as a goodwill visit, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano visited yesterday morning the family of fellow senatorial candidate Joselito Cayetano, who also gave his other name as "Peter," at Kilometer 11 in Barangay Sasa in this city.

"It’s a visit of goodwill. I just wanted to meet his family," Cayetano said.

He said that besides wanting to see for himself the real situation of Joselito’s family, he also wanted to assure the Cayetano family of Davao that he does not hold a grudge against them.

"It’s true that what happened is messing up the electoral system," Cayetano said. "But I also would like to assure them that there is no anger in our hearts for them. They were just being used by somebody else."

Joselito’s mother, Conrada, even cried as she insisted she did not know of her son’s plans to seek a senatorial seat in the May 14 elections.

"All I knew was he left for Manila to look for a job and then suddenly, he was already running for senator," she said of her son’s senatorial bid, backed by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) party.

Joselito used to work as a stevedore at the Sasa Wharf, where he earned only P200 a day – income that prompted him to look for greener pastures in Manila.

Joselito said in his certificate of candidacy that he was a marine engineer, although this is reportedly not true.

Conrada also said they could be related to the Cayetano family in Manila, as she traced common relatives both families knew.

Cayetano said he was hoping he would be received by the Davao Cayetanos and added that he got much more than he had expected: "I got more than a good welcome. What I got instead was a very, very, warm welcome, which was overwhelming."

Shouts of "Alan, Alan, Alan," were heard from a crowd of neighbors at Kilometer 11 who had gathered to meet the Taguig-Pateros legislator.

This developed as Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos spoke on the matter of Cayetano’s petition for the disqualification of Joselito: "Let us give everyone a day in court to explain their side, including the Cayetano case."

Abalos said that the even the Cayetano from Manila must answer questions about his citizenship. Abalos arrived here yesterday for a joint command conference of the local units of both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"We cannot immediately just disqualify the other Cayetano because he is backed by KBL, which was once a dominant political party," Abalos added. "In the same way we are also hearing the petition against the congressman because of his citizenship issue."