LIBERAL Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate Hilario “Junjun” Davide III yesterday admitted the local unit has yet to receive campaign funds from their national allies and that he already felt some pressure from candidates waiting for the assistance.
He said he was assured the amount would be released before the local campaign officially started last Friday. He will check with LP national head Florencio Abad and secretary-general Jun Abaya for their campaign funds.
Davide said he was told that to run for governor, a candidate would need to raise P100 million—and that’s the conservative estimate.
One probable reason the funds are delayed, he said, is that Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is being selective about whom to receive donations from because he doesn’t want to be “tied up” with certain vested interests once he becomes president.
Aquino also declared his presidential bid months after some rivals, like the Nacionalista Party’s Sen. Manuel Villar, began an advertising blitz to prepare for the campaign.
For his part, Davide admitted he needs all the support he can get. “I have no reason to reject it. In fact, we need it,” he told reporters in an interview at their ancestral house in Barangay Colawin, Argao, hours before attending the graduation ceremony in the Colawin Elementary School.
For the start of the campaign, he said his family and friends contributed whatever they can, like posters, paper and vehicles.
Unlike Davide, Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. refused to say how much the local campaign might cost the party, adding only that the allowable amount is P5 per voter.
Davide did not say how much he has spent so far.
When he ran for a seat in the Cebu City council, Davide said, he enjoyed an advantage because of their party machinery. He was affiliated with the administration party, Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan.
In LP’s case, financial constraints and a lack of organization are proving to be challenges, the provincial chairman admitted.
“LP has never been organized in the province,” he said.
But Davide said the lack of financial resources has not discouraged him, because he is fighting for “a good cause,” a campaign against corruption.
Sanchez, for his part, said he is no longer banking on whatever funds may come and will spend his own resources.
“Maayo kon naa unta. Pero wa man daw kwarta. Kon muabot, naa. (I hope the funds will come but the LP national office said there’s no money. We’ll know there’s money if and when it gets here),” Sanchez added.