Wednesday, May 02, 2007 Group backs Rufus amid early Benjo claim By Danilo V. Adorador III
A GROUP of Evangelical pastors in Cagayan de Oro on Tuesday endorsed a congressional candidate from the opposition, disavowing an earlier support they reportedly gave to an administration bet.
Convergence--which claimed to represent three evangelical organizations in the city--threw its support to lawyer Rufus Rodriguez, the Genuine Opposition's (GO) congressional candidate in the second district.
"Today we declare our support for lawyer Rodriguez's candidacy in the second district. This is the first and the only declaration of support for a candidate that we have made in this election, so far," said Pastor Boy Odang, one the group's conveners in an assembly cum press conference at the Grand Caprice.
But the group's endorsement of Rodriguez casts a shadow over an earlier declaration of support reportedly made by the Metro Cagayan Ministerial Fellowship (MCMF) to Councilor Jose Benjamin "Benjo" Benaldo, official candidate of the administration PaDayon-Lakas CMD coalition.
In an e-mailed statement to Sun.Star earlier, Benaldo's media bureau said MCMF--one of the three Evangelical groups comprising Convergence--had thrown its support for the councilor.
But Pastor Rey Anggana, an MCMF board of director, belied this, saying the group's chairman, Bishop Bing Gadian, was surprised to hear the report.
"It's true that we attended a forum with Councilor Benaldo about two weeks ago. But it was not intended as a declaration of support. There was no consensus yet on the matter at that time," Anggana told Sun.Star.
The decision to support Rodriguez, he said, was only reached last Sunday. A call to Benaldo was left unanswered Tuesday afternoon.
Erwin Culanag, Benaldo's media bureau chief, referred this paper to Anggana when asked for comment on the issue. Convergence claimed it has 400 congregations in Cagayan de Oro.
