Padayon’s Baculio is for Rody, not Binay

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

THE group that is behind the campaign to make Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte win in the May presidential elections has counted one of Padayon Pilipino’s top candidates in Misamis Oriental as a supporter.

Ben Ranque, an official of the PDP-Laban and a member of the party’s National Executive Campaign Committee, said Padayon Pilipino congressional candidate Augusto Baculio Jr. has declared his support for Duterte.

Baculio is running for congressman in Misamis Oriental’s 2nd District, a post he held before, under the Emano family’s Padayon Pilipino. The party, headed by Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano in the province, is a known supporter of another presidential candidate, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Ranque said Baculio has met with the group behind the Duterte campaign here, and made it very clear that he was for the Davao mayor, and not Binay.

He said Baculio was not alone because “tanan man politiko sa Mindanao gusto musporta ni Duterte kay taga Mindanao gud, apan ang uban dili lang magpaklaro.”

Raffy Abrogar, a former regional director of the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda), corroborated Ranque’s claims, adding that he personally heard Baculio declare that he would support Duterte’s campaign despite the Padayon Pilipino’s position.

“Magbansiwag gyud ang grupo ni Gov. Emano kay si Bambi  tu-a man nagsuporta ni Binay, samtang si Baculio, tu-a ni Duterte,” said Abrogar.

Duterte is scheduled to campaign in Baculio’s district today. He is scheduled to be in Baculio’s political bailiwick, El Salvador city, to launch his Misamis Oriental campaign after his visit in Tagoloan, the hometown of the Emano family.

Abrogar said Baculio even promised to gather some five thousand of his supporters for the Duterte rally.

In Tagoloan, Duterte would raise the hand of Yokyok Yap, a mayoral candidate in Tagoloan who was “adopted” by PDP-Laban, he said.