Gordon, de los Reyes start campaign trail (4:25 p.m.)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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MANILA -- Relatives Senator Richard Gordon and Olongapo City councilor John
Carlos de los Reyes launched their own presidential bids by touring provinces Tuesday. De los Reyes is Gordon’s nephew.
Gordon, accompanied by running-mate former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, went into a motorcade to Cavite to visit various towns and cities before setting up in Imus for a kick-off rally on Tuesday afternoon.
A radio report said the two were on a replica of “Optimus Prime,” the 10-wheel Isuzu truck that will carry them throughout their motorcade. “Optimus Prime” is the leader of the Autobots in the popular cartoon series “Transformers,” the duo’s campaign tag.
Gordon said their campaign will not be awash with cash but claimed that track record is enough to propel them to the top two posts in the land.
“Today, we begin the first victory of the country. We need to have leaders chosen based on right, not popularity; honesty, not buying the presidency; work ethic, not inheritance,” the outgoing senator added.
Latest surveys showed Gordon, de los Reyes as cellar-dwellers in the 10-man presidential race. Fernando is also miles behind vice presidential frontrunners Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II and Senator Loren Legarda.
The same radio report said traffic on the expressway was slow as more than 50 cars with Gordon and Fernando's posters, including Red Cross ambulances, joined the convoy.
De los Reyes of Ang Kapatiran party meanwhile had a series of activities in his hometown Olongapo City. He started it with a mass followed by house-to-house visits and meeting with local candidates.
The 39-year-old councilor was supposed to attend also a young leaders forum dubbed as ‘i-Vote: The Presidential Youth Dialogue’ at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of the RCBC Plaza today but organizers cancelled it.
De los Reyes is running on a platform of moral recovery leadership, to which he strongly opposed the reproductive health bill pending in Congress.
He also vowed to decentralize government so that development could finally trickle to the provinces, particularly in Mindanao. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
