Cebu backs Marcos slate, except Villar?

The administration senatorial slate Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas secured the backing of vote-rich Cebu on Monday, exactly one week before the 12 May elections, with Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar being singled out.

Although the press release named all 11 candidates under the ticket, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said in her speech that her founding dominant party, One Cebu, will only endorse 10 bets from the administration.

She named re-electionist Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Francis Tolentino, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, as well as ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati Mayor Abby Binay, and former senators Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, and Manny Pacquiao.

“I already mentioned that One Cebu may support only nine, 10 [from Alyansa]. Later, you’ll find out who the 11th is. As for the 12th, it’s up to you to decide,” Garcia said in Cebuano during the campaign rally.

Only Abalos was present during the rally, while Revilla was represented by his wife, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was also in attendance.

The Marcos-backed Alyansa was originally composed of 12 candidates before Senator Imee Marcos exited the party in March and subsequently sought endorsement from Vice President Sara Duterte, who positioned herself as an opposition figure.

Similar to Senator Marcos, the Villar family also castigated the government over its decision to hand over former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court. Since his arrest on 11 March, Rep. Villar has been noticeably absent from multiple Alyansa sorties.

Speculations of a fractured alliance between the Marcoses and Villars were exacerbated by the President’s recent marching order to launch an investigation into PrimeWater—a water service provider owned by the Villars—following mounting complaints from consumers about poor service.

Marcos also repeatedly omitted Rep. Villar’s name in some of his endorsement speeches during campaign sorties.

Garcia had already endorsed Rep. Villar during the latter’s solo campaign in Cebu province in early April, just weeks before Marcos’ directive for a probe into PrimeWater.

It is unclear, however, why Rep. Villar was left off her lineup. But during the rally, the governor urged her constituents to vote straight for Alyansa in the coming elections.

Cebu remains a significant electoral force owing to its large voting population, numbering at 3.4 million.

Garcia remains in office despite being placed under a six-month preventive suspension by the Ombudsman for alleged grave abuse of authority for issuing a special permit to a construction firm in May last year, allegedly without the mandatory environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

President Marcos earlier said that the governor must be accorded due process, citing the critical timing of the order’s release, which was ordered executed by the Ombudsman three weeks before the polls.