Kiko confident of ‘end game support’ for Leni, himself

AS the campaign season draws to a close in the next few days, vice presidential candidate Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan said today that he and Vice-President, presidential candidate Ma. Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo are counting on the ‘outpouring of public sympathy and support’ to carry them to victory on May 9.

“Hopefully we’re able to get more support lalo na sa endgame. Bakit mahalaga itong last three to four days? Almost 20 percent of voters polled in the last election decided on Election Day who they will vote for. So, mag-iisip pa, mga undecided pa and tama naman na huwag padalos dalos, huwag magmadaling magdesisyon, dapat pag-aralan ng husto,” Pangilinan told reporters during a press briefing held at the mayor’s conference room.

Pangilinan arrived in Cagayan de Oro City for campaign visits in the city and in Misamis Oriental accompanied by Mayor Moreno, who’s running for governor in the province.

When asked what his priorities would be if elected vice president, Pangilinan pledged to work on improving the country’s agricultural sector which he said ‘wasn’t done right.’

“We are largely an agricultural country and yet we are still a hungry country kasi laging nahuhuli at napabayaan ang agrikultura,” he said.

As chairman of the Senate agriculture committee back in 2010, Pangilinan said he managed to double the budget for the country’s agriculture sector under the late president Benigno Aquino III and authored the Coconut Levy Trust Fund.

“Misamis Oriental will benefit from this law if implemented properly kasi malaki pa rin ang coconut farmers’ population. I’m also the principal author of the ‘Sagip Saka’ law which allows local governments to buy directly from farmers,” he said.

Pangilinan also thanked Moreno for his ‘difficult, principled stand’ in supporting him and Vice President Robredo’s bids for the vice-presidency and presidency respectively.

“Mayor Moreno is the most prominent Mindanaoan elected public official who came out to support us. I’m sure that with the position (Mayor Moreno has taken) other Mindanaoan leaders will contemplate (supporting) that position because they feel the public pulse is now with the Leni-Kiko tandem,” Pangilinan said.

For his part, Moreno said he supported the tandem of Robredo and Pangilinan for president and vice-president, respectively because he believes the country needs stability now more than anything else.

“She (Robredo) didn’t ask me to support her, I offered myself…dili tiaw ang problema sa nasud (especially the economy)…ang role sa national leadership is to unite the country, to make it strong and credible and lead it to the right direction,” Moreno said.

Despite being a Mindanaoan leader, Moreno said his decision to support Robredo and Pangilinan wasn’t determined by regional loyalties.

“Abi ninyo tanawa ninyo ang nasud, tipik niana ang Mindanao. But it’s not as if Mindanao is the entire country. You have to look at the bigger picture…how I wish niana na ang federalism pero lisod at this time…Mindanao is part of the country, you cannot be parochial,” Moreno said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)