The silent majority fed up with the mudslinging that sets apart the 2010 presidential campaign has spawned the “Coalition of Hope” across the countrythat will spell the victory of Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gibo Teodoro on Election Day, according to at least 128 incumbent elective officials and candidates backing his candidacy.
In a manifesto issued at the end of a Cebu City caucus last weekend, these ruling party stalwarts called on these millions of “coalition” members to“link the archipelago with their cries for new politics” and let their collective be heard by voting for Gibo who they regard as “the best and the brightest” among this year’s crop of presidentiables.
“We, the leaders, in consultation with our constituents, have made our choice,” said these officials in the Cebu declaration that they signed atthe Marco Polo Hotel in that city. “We have chosen the best and the brightest. The most deserving and the worthiest. The man who can lead ournation in achieving our dreams and aspirations and the man who can bringpride and honor to our country.”
They added in this manifesto that, “Millions of our countrymen agree with us and have joined us in our cause to make him the next president of our country.”
“Sec. Teodoro has quietly attracted millions of Filipinos from all walks oflife who now form the “coalition of hope” across the nation – the youth,students, farmers, fisher folk, urban and rural poor, professionals,entrepreneurs, business leaders, local and regional political leaders andmembers of the religious,” they said.
“And we call upon the provincial, congressional, city, municipal andbarangay leaders who, having gone this far to keep faith with our politicalideals, must now lead the march forward with decisive steps toward victory on May 10 for Sec. Gibo Teodoro, the Lakas-kampi-CMD presidentialcandidate,” they said.
They noted that the millions of Filipinos comprising the pro-Gibo coalition“have refused to be drowned by the political noise and be carried away by the propaganda, the biased surveys and manipulations of the mass media.”
“We call on all of them now to let the nation hear their voice, feel their strength and their power. Together let us prevail upon those who have been misled by their anger, their hatred, greed and prejudice and urge them toput the country first and above themselves,” they said.
The silent majority has been increasingly drawn to Gibo, they said, because“no other candidate for president comes close to….his keen grasp of theissues of our people and the programs to achieve the goals he seeks in theshortest possible time to benefit the greatest number of Filipinos in thisgeneration.”
Moreover, “Sec. Teodoro has not engaged in the politics of hate or in the rhetoric of mudslinging and smear, and he alone stands out as the face, thevoice, the hope, and the torch-bearer of the new politics that will put an end to divisiveness and hate in our country,” they added.
Signatories to this manifesto were 128 incumbent legislators, governors andcandidates of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD vying for local positions who converged anew last Saturday at Marco Polo Hotel to reaffirm their 100%support for Gibo’s presidential bid.
They included 95 members of the House of Representatives (25 from Luzon, 34from the Visayas and 36 from Mindanao) and 33 governors (11 from Luzon, 10from the Visayas, and 12 from Mindanao) belonging to the “Governors forGibo” or G4G.
Also dubbed “Team Palabra de Honor” because of the distinction of being true to their word of honor of sticking it out with Gibo Teodoro till May 10,this new caucus of governors led by Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu had met twice last month to declare their unwavering support for the ruling party’spresidential bet.
These governors first meet at the Discovery Suites to coincide with ameeting of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD executive committee at the nearby LindenSuites in Pasig City in early April, where both groups declared their continued support for Gibo.The G4G governors met againon April 20, also at the Marco Polo Hotel in Cebu City, to reiterate their support for Gibo.
Those present included 41incumbent governors and gubernatorial candidates.A day before that Marco Polo Hotel meeting, 168 congressional candidates, 71 of them incumbent legislators, met at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati Cityto similarly declare their support for Gibo’s presidential bid.
Governor Garcia, head of G4G and hostess of the landmark event, said the signing of the Cebu Declaration “solidifies the groundswell of overwhelming support for Gibo.”
“We are leaders in our respective provinces and districts,” she said. “So when we go back, we will start moving our respective machineries for the victory of Gibo.”
The Governor did not hide her happiness over the declaration, as it proved,she said, “that ‘*palabra de honor* (word of honor)” is alive and well in Philippine politics.”
“It’s the new politics in action,” she noted. “And to those who jump ship,the public now has a stricter standard to judge you. After the CebuDeclaration, switching alliances, which used to be acceptable behavior, isnow a sure path to political suicide.” -30-
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