A RANKING executive of the United Negros Alliance (Unega) has clarified that the party's coalition with Love Negros remains intact despite the members' different preferences for a presidential candidate to support in the coming May 2022 elections.
"We are a democracy. Our members are also affiliated with different national political parties. And we have a multi-party system that is why we have different choices for president and vice president to give our support to," Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. and concurrent Unega secretary general said Tuesday, March 15.
The arrangement, therefore, makes the Love Negros and Unega a unique coalition because their bond is more rooted on local issues affecting their respective constituencies, he said.
"Let it be made clear that our relationships are not dictated by our choices of national candidates. As the saying goes, all politics are local," said Escalante, one of the two Negros Occidental mayors who openly supported the presidential run of Vice President Leni Robredo.
Escalante and Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Maranon III, the Unega party chairman, together with Second District Representative Leo Rafael "Bebo" Cueva, endorsed Robredo at the Sagay City rally that drew an estimated crowd of 20,000.
They later rejoined Robredo at the grand rally at the Paglaum Sports Complex attended by 70,000 Kakampinks, so far the biggest political rally of the vice president since the campaign began.
Also at the Paglaum event was Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who actually welcomed and endorsed Robredo at her San Carlos City sortie at the Bishop's Compound with an estimated 4,000 attendees.
Lacson again endorsed Robredo at Paglaum before a mammoth record crowd and took the honors to introduce her.
Interestingly, Lacson's vice governor, Jeffrey Ferrer, is rooting for the presidential bid of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
Ferrer, the incumbent Unega president, earlier claimed that 28 other mayors in the province are with him to support Marcos.
Former Third District representative Albee Benitez, one of the top leaders of Love Negros and a mayoralty candidate in Bacolod City, earlier issued a manifesto that he is also supporting Marcos.
Also joining the People's Rally of Hope at Paglaum Sports Complex was Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and several Grupo Progreso bets for councilors. (PR)