Nerry’s ally ‘pressured’

MAYORAL candidate Nerissa Soon-Ruiz’s decision to leave Lakas-Kampi and One Cebu puts Provincial Board (PB) Member Wenceslao Gakit in a difficult situation: he remains with both parties, but may lose some of his Mandaue City allies’ support.

Gakit said he will be happy to join the Nagkahiusang Mandauehanon’s campaign sorties once invited, “But I take my orders from Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.”

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When asked who will be his mayoral candidate in Mandaue City, Gakit said, “Whoever is supported by One Cebu.” The city has 183,811 registered voters.

Two other allies of Soon-Ruiz who are supposed to be candidates of Lakas-Kampi are Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, who is seeking reelection, and congressional candidate Luigi Quisumbing.

They have yet to confirm whether they, like Soon-Ruiz, are supporting the Nacionalista Party’s presidential candidate Manny Villar, or One Cebu’s choice, Gilberto Teodoro Jr. of Lakas-Kampi.

The governor continued to keep mum on whether One Cebu will still support Soon-Ruiz or shift to reelectionist Mayor Jonas Cortes instead.

The governor said she has yet to receive the congresswoman’s courtesy resignation.

“We will wait for it. No speculative answers to speculative questions,” Garcia said in a brief interview with Sun.Star Cebu.

“If there is a resignation letter, we will accept it, we will read it, then we will answer it.”

Ruiz announced Sunday her support for Villar and resigned from the administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD. She was the interim vice president for the Visayas since 2009.

Soon-Ruiz also said she plans to give a courtesy resignation to Garcia, president of One Cebu, although she promised to support Garcia and vice gubernatorial bet Glenn Soco.

One Cebu spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda, when asked about Ruiz’s fate, only reiterated the party’s stand that those who will not support Gilberto Teodoro Jr. for president are free to leave the party.

Word of honor

Sepulveda said the party has not distributed funds to its candidates because the party does not have much anyway.

“One Cebu is not about money, it is about word of honor,” said Sepulveda.

A source who asked not to be named said that Gakit was seen in some activities of Soon-Ruiz’s rival, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, who leads the local party Team Mandaue.

Gakit and former Mandaue mayor Thadeo Ouano are Nagkahiusang Mandauehanon’s candidates for the PB.

But while Comelec listed Gakit as a Lakas-Kampi candidate, the ballot template identifies Ouano as a One Cebu candidate.

Gakit said he is still a member of both parties, still supports Teodoro for president and takes orders from the governor.

Junked

But when asked to comment, Ruiz’s chief of staff, lawyer Gonzalo Malig-on, denied the Nagkahiusang Mandauehanon “junked” Gakit.

“Iya ra nang huna-huna oy (That’s all in his mind) as he has not been attending our nightly campaign sorties despite being invited,” Malig-on said in a text message to reporters yesterday.

The source, who is not from the Cortes camp, said they were not given any advice to support Gakit in last Sunday’s Nagkahiusa rally in Barangay Jagobiao. Gakit also missed that activity.

Gakit insisted no invitation from Nagkahiusa reached his office, so there was no way he could attend the campaign events.

He said he told his staff before March 26, the official start of the local campaign period, to coordinate with Luigi Quisumbing, congressional aspirant of One Cebu and Nagkahiusa, regarding schedules.

He said he was told only about the March 27 launching of Quisumbing’s district office and One Cebu’s opening salvo at the Cebu International Convention Center.

Senate

Also yesterday, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña cautioned One Cebu’s choices for the Senate that their endorsement will not guarantee the party will support them.

“She is a junker, you know. Just ask John-John Osmeña what happened to him,” the mayor said, referring to his nephew, former vice governor John-John Osmeña, who lost the 2004 gubernatorial elections to Garcia.

One Cebu has chosen to endorse 11 candidates for the Senate, coming from six parties: Franklin Drilon (Liberal Party); Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino); Ramon Guico Jr., Lito Lapid and Ramon “Bong” Revilla (Lakas-Kampi-CMD); Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Gilbert Remulla and Adel Tamano (Nacionalista Party); Vicente “Tito” Sotto III (Nationalist People’s Coalition); and Francisco Tatad (Grand Alliance for Democracy).

No Cebuano

The mayor said he was “not surprised” that three Cebuano senatorial candidates were left out of the One Cebu ticket.

Shut out of the selection were former Comelec Commissioner Regalado Maambong, former Cebu governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña and former senator Sergio Osmeña, the mayor’s brother.

Garcia earlier explained the party picked those who have the best interest of Cebu in their agenda and those candidates who sought the party’s support.

“Lito has done 10 times more for Cebu than Gwen has done when he was the governor, but they don’t care about those things,” the mayor said.

When asked during the weekend why there were no Cebuanos in the One Cebu list of Senate candidates, the governor referred to the selection criteria.

Gakit, for his part, said it’s within Soon-Ruiz’s prerogative to change her mind about supporting Teodoro.

“I have to wait for Governor Garcia’s action and decision,” he told Sun.Star Cebu, when asked how he will deal with it if his local allies desert him.

He also recalled which Mandaue City affairs attended by Governor Garcia he joined. These were the PhilHealth card distribution in the fourth quarter last year, the release of aid to fire victims in Barangay Opao last February, and the PhilHealth card distribution in Barangay Canduman two weeks ago.