ILOILO City – Representatives from one of Iloilo City’s biggest church groups pledged to support Atty. Joe III Espinosa’s congressional bid, along with a significant number of Vice President Leni Robredo’s loyalists who have voiced concerns over the trustworthiness and honor of Espinosa’s main electoral rival.
The Alliance of Religious Ministers includes, among others, the Bible Baptist Church, the United Pentecostal Church, Full Gospel Church and the New Life Baptist Church. These churches and other Protestant groups represent about 5% of the Iloilo City population, compared with 2% for Iglesia ni Cristo and 90% for the Roman Catholics.
In a series of personal meetings in the past few months, representatives from the Alliance of Religious Ministers pledged their support to Espinosa’s bid for the city’s lone congressional district. They endorsed Espinosa’s brand of clean, honest, responsive, progressive and inclusive governance when he was the city’s vice-mayor and mayor.
Meanwhile, a significant numbers of supporters of Robredo and Sen. Kiko Pangilinan have expressed disgust at emerging reports that incumbent Rep. Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda, who is supposedly allied with Robredo’s group, has been secretly meeting up with Robredo’s political rivals. Robredo and Pangilinan are running for the presidency and the vice presidency, respectively.
Recently taken photos that flooded social media showed Baronda with vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte, Ilocano politician Luis “Chavit” Singson, as well as Sen. Bong Go and President Rodrigo Duterte himself.
Singson, mayor of Narvacan in Ilocos Sur, and president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, is a known ally of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is running for the presidency, with Duterte as his running mate.
According to unconfirmed reports, Baronda had been asking the cited individuals to fund her campaign. This has shocked many Robredo supporters, with many of them fearing Baronda has sold out or could no longer be trusted.
“I will not vote for that woman,” said a high-profile Robredo supporter upon confirming reports that Baronda had been meeting up with Sara Duterte and emissaries of Marcos.
Political analysts warned that the backlash could cost Baronda dearly, if not the congressional contest itself.
“The Kakampinks [Robredo supporters] now suspect Baronda of being a traditional politician after all, sacrificing her ideological principles just to secure funding even from tainted sources,” said the analyst, who requested anonymity due to his sensitive position at a state university.
“These intelligent voters will likely abandon Baronda and back Espinosa, who is seen as a much cleaner candidate,” he added.
Supporters of Espinosa are confident that the unfolding wave of voters shifting from Baronda to Espinosa, along with genuine endorsements from religious, community and civic leaders, bode well for his candidacy.
“Sir Joe III will bring to Congress his decades of experience as a true and dedicated public servant,” said a barangay captain from Molo, who requested anonymity to avoid the ire of city hall.
Espinosa’s supporters point to his well-thought-out legislative platform as one of the main attractions among Iloilo City’s educated and sophisticated voters. Espinosa’s legislative plan includes the filing of a bill to institutionalize his highly-regarded “Pag-Ulikid” program, which brought representatives of the various departments of city hall to communities, allowing seniors, persons with disability and busy homemakers the chance to avail themselves of much-needed services.
Espinosa is also espousing the setting up of a regional children’s hospital, along with a generous and comprehensive scholarship to enable poor but deserving students to realize their dream of becoming doctors, lawyers or engineers. He hopes to push for legislation to ensure free medical check-up and laboratory tests for seniors, among other proposals in his legislative program./PN
