Rodrigo Duterte (left), seven-term Davao City mayor and presidential candidate, raises his hands with running mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano during their proclamation ceremony in Manila on Monday. Duterte filed his candidacy last week following weeks of speculation on his intention.(MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) — Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte will appear at the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec’s) head office in Intramuros, Manila, tomorrow, to make sure that his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president will not have hitches, his spokesman said yesterday.
“This (Duterte’s visit to the Comelec) is to bolster his COC which was earlier filed through his lawyer Salvador Medialdea with a personal appearance and oath before a Comelec notary,” Peter Tiu Laviña told reporters in Davao City.
Laviña added that Duterte’s move tomorrow will “dispel any doubts about his filing and to thwart efforts to disqualify him and deny the Filipino people of choice in the forthcoming May 9, 2016 elections.”
Duterte will be assisted at the Comelec main office by the National Capital Region (NCR) Quick Action Team formed by William Ramirez with the support of Peter Laurel, a classmate of the mayor at the Lyceum University and Davao-born labor leader Dave Diwa.
Laviña also pointed out that Vice- Presidential candidate Alan Peter Cayetano and his team will also be present at the Comelec office to support Duterte.
“Join us if you are in the Intramuros area. We do not like though to cause any traffic inconvenience to the good people of Metro Manila whose choice is clearly and conclusively for genuine change under the Duterte-Cayetano tandem,” Laviña added.
The spokesperson also reminded supporters of Duterte to “be very careful lest we provide bullets to our enemies to shoot at us” by avoiding and refraining “from so-called fund-raising activities or soliciting campaign donations.”
The Comelec, Laviña said, will be strict in monitoring election campaign finance.
“Let us not put our candidate in peril. The best way for everyone to help is to spend their own money to print their own shirts, put up their own tarpaulins in front of their homes or shops or in their vehicles, pay for their own transportation and snacks in attending Duterte meetings, forum or activities in their cities or communities, pay their own way to polling places, particularly OFWs who have to take leave from work and travel far to embassies and consular offices abroad.”
Laviña further urged supporters “to make Duterte win by our own efforts and by our own hard-earned money. He is the true People’s President because of all of us.”
He pointed out that while the other candidates are funded by taxpayer’s money and funds from the vested interests of other people, Duterte’s support will mainly be fueled and funded by the people themselves.
“If you know or learn of anyone undertaking fund-raising schemes, please let us know so we can advise them. Of course, spies from the enemy camps can do this as well to destroy the good name of the mayor and sow disunity among our ranks. Worry not, we shall expose them,” Laviña stressed.(MNS)