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By
Efren L. Danao, Senior, Reporter
TAGBILARAN
CITY, BOHOL: The opposition had conceded Cebu to President Arroyo
weeks before the 2004 presidential election, three former
campaigners of the late Fernando Poe Jr. said Sunday.
Reelectionist
Sen. Edgardo Angara and former senators Tessie Aquino-Oreta and
Vicente Sotto 3rd told The Manila Times that they had realized weeks
before the May 2004 election that there was no way Poe could win
over Mrs. Arroyo in Cebu City and Cebu province.
Angara
was chairman of the executive council of the Koalisyon ng
Nagkakaisang Pilipino, the party of Poe; Sotto was the former
actor’s campaign manager; Aquino Oreta was in charge of KNP
campaign finance and logistics. The three are now running for
senator under the Team Unity ticket supported by the Arroyo
administration.
The
three made the admission when The Times asked them why the KNP
canceled Poe’s miting de avance in Cebu City about two weeks
before the 2004 election. All serious presidential candidates had
made it a point to make a last-ditch attempt to court vote-rich Cebu
City. Poe was the first one to cancel a scheduled final rally in
Cebu City.
“We
canceled the miting de avance because we had no organization in the
city and province,” Angara said.
The
President chalked up a lead of one million votes over Poe in Cebu
City and Cebu province, and this has been contested by the
opposition who charged that there was widespread cheating in the
area.
Oreta
and Sotto agreed with Angara on KNP’s lack of organization in Cebu.
“We
were banking on the support of John-John Osmeña and Junnie Martinez
but this never came, so we saw the futility of pushing through with
the final rally,” Sotto said.
The
young Osmeña, son of former senator John Osmeña, and former
representative Celestino “Junnie” Martinez Jr. ran for governor
in 2004 but they both supported the candidacy of President Arroyo.
“We
had only one candidate, in Cebu City, but he was very weak,” added
Oreta.
She
was referring to former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia, who lost to
Mayor Tommy Osmeña by a landslide.
Sotto
said that with the absence of local candidates in Cebu City and Cebu
province, the KNP was not able field election inspectors or watchers
in voting precincts.
When
asked if this absence could have enable the supporters of the
President to do as they wished in the precincts, Sotto replied that
he doubted this.
“I
don’t think it would have made any difference. Our analysis showed
that President Arroyo was really strong in Cebu,” Sotto said.
Oreta
said that weeks before the2004 presidential election, she had
already noted the absence of mechanisms that would ensure the
delivery of support for Poe.
“All
we had were pledges, but when we asked for guarantees, we could find
none except for some areas,” she said.
Sotto
said that what the KNP had previously experienced in Cebu City and
Cebu province would be felt anew by the Genuine Opposition
senatorial slate in the May 2007 election.
“Like
us in 2004, the Genuine Opposition is not organized in Cebu,” he
said.
Deputy
Speaker for Visayas Raul del Mar told The Times that local leaders
would work hard to ensure the victory of Team Unity in Cebu City and
Cebu province.
“The
2007 election may be different because it is 12 against 12, compared
to one on one in 2004. There are strong candidates of the
opposition, but we will work hard to ensure the victory of Team
Unity,” the Cebu City legislator said.
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