CEBU CITY -- Cebu is not administration country, after all.
The Liberal Party’s (LP) Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is leading in Cebu’s presidential race, despite their local allies’ promises to deliver a million votes for Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. and Nacionalista Party’s (NP) Sen. Manuel Villar.
“While they made promises, we never mentioned anything like that,” said LP spokesperson lawyer Joselito Ramon Castillo.
As of 7:35 p.m., the partial and unofficial count of a major TV network showed Aquino leading in Central Visayas, with 1,210,446 votes. Teodoro placed second, with 445,457.
The same tally showed Roxas in the lead in Central Visayas, with 1,229,320 votes, compared to 544,158 for Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.
In late April, Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, third district) said the province will deliver one million votes for Teodoro. The next day, Dumanjug Mayor Cesar Baricuatro also promised a million votes for Villar. (Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez Jr. later made the same promise during a rally that Aquino’s sister attended.)
“One million plus one million, that leaves negative for LP. But at the rate this is going, it seems like their one million votes will go to Noynoy,” said Castillo. He was at the provincial canvassing at the Capitol building, which showed Aquino leading in most towns.
Even in the district of Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, first district) where Villar was endorsed, Aquino prevailed.
In the first district’s three cities and three towns, Aquino won close to 145,000 votes, as opposed to Villar’s around 50,000 votes.
The Duranos, who dominate politics in Danao City and virtually the entire fifth district, endorsed Teodoro. But even in Danao City, Aquino won.
Aquino got 24,299 votes, compared to Teodoro’s 21,287 votes in Danao City.
In Barili and Dumanjug, where the Garcias and nearly all of their allies won, so did Aquino.
The LP candidate won 42.8 percent of the votes in Dumanjug, compared to 27.6 percent for Teodoro. Roxas won 56.7 percent in that town. Legarda placed second, with 19.72 percent.
Disappointed
Aquino won 53.41 percent of the votes in Barili. Teodoro landed second, with 26.98 percent. Again, Roxas won the vice presidential race there, with 53.44 percent. Binay placed second, with 36.04 percent.
A One Cebu official said the party is disappointed with Teodoro’s overall showing in the province.
“We fought a good fight, but we expected more,” said spokesperson and legal counsel Rory Jon Sepulveda.
When asked what happened to the promised million votes, Sepulveda would only say, “Your guess is as good as mine.” He said One Cebu will evaluate the votes that came in, down to the precinct level.
Clean fight
Sepulveda commented, though, that the election in Cebu was a clean and honest-to-goodness fight.
Castillo said the results of the presidential election in Cebu showed that apart from Cebu no longer being administration country, the election was about character, rather than machinery.
“Noynoy’s character is the main selling point,” said Castillo.
The LP’s Cebu allies also delivered.
Even if the national trend is going against him, Roxas has a good lead against Binay in Cebu.
Citing results in Cebu City where winners in the presidential and vice presidential race garnered more votes than the mayor and vice mayor, an urban poor organizer saw the emergence of voters who vote independently, rather than follow party lines.
Choice
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said on Tuesday voters clearly voted as individuals, following their own choice, rather than delivering wholesale votes for political parties.
In Cebu City, for example, he said Aquino and Roxas got more votes in the south district than congressional candidate Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
“Of course, the parties have influence, but voters go beyond party lines. One indication in Cebu City is that Noynoy got more votes than Tommy. Mar got more votes than Noynoy. I’m sure the party has an influence, but karon… ug baligya pa ni, nagdirect selling na ang mga tawo (people no longer need a middleman, they prefer direct selling),” he said.
Fernandez’s urban poor organizations endorsed LP national and local candidates, and have been helping organize the campaign of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan since the mayor’s first term.
Binay
He said another indication is that Binay ranked second in the city, even if none of the local parties endorsed him.
“I don’t think any of the parties formally carried him in Cebu City, but he came in second, and that surprises everybody. That was phenomenal. What I’m saying is that whether for right or for wrong, the voters think independently, independent of the party,” Fernandez said.
Osmeña, however, said he will not ask the new president to take his oath of office in Cebu City.
The city will not ask any special favors from Malacañang, he added.
“No, it’s always been my thrust that we attain self-reliance here... All we want is just fair play. We’re not going to burden the National Government. I don’t think we have to. We have enough, we don’t need pork barrel. We’ll have to manage on our own,” he said yesterday.
In 2004, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo broke with tradition when she decided to take oath in Cebu, in front of a stage erected in front of the Capitol. (She delivered her inaugural address in Manila.)
That was the year she won a margin of over one million votes in Cebu over the actor Fernando Poe Jr. -- which is what led to Cebu’s reputation as administration country. But in 2004, all three contenders for governor were allied with Arroyo. (JGA/LCR/Sun.Star Cebu)