After dumping Binay, One Cebu picks Duterte

Doris Bigornia, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 02 Apr 2016 11:53 PM

CEBU – After severing ties with the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay, the One Cebu Party on Saturday announced that it is supporting the candidacy of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

READ: Major ally in vote-rich Cebu dumps Binay

One Cebu Party head and gubernatorial bet Winston Garcia said his party will deliver one million votes for Duterte, the standard-bearer of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan.

After a late-night meeting with Duterte in Cebu on Saturday, Garcia told reporters that the party will do for Duterte what it did for former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004.

Arroyo got a million votes in Cebu in that election where she faced off with veteran actor Fernando Poe Jr.

Duterte is ecstatic over the endorsement. "Kabahan na kayo,'' he said.

The alliance will be officially announced tomorrow, the local party said.

Cebu currently has 2.7 million registered voters.

After reviewing Duterte's platform of government, especially on infrastructure, Garcia said he believes Duterte is the right candidate to support.

ONE CEBU CUTS TIES WITH UNA

Garcia earlier said the local party decided to end its alliance with UNA because the vice-president's party seemed to have neglected its duties as a partner in the campaign.

''One Cebu entered into an alliance with UNA in the belief that it will be a partnerships of equals,'' Garcia said last March 21.

WATCH: Binay loses support of ONE-Cebu Party

''We were wrong. Dead wrong. UNA treated One Cebu like imperial Manila treats the rest of the Philippines-- for all intents and purposes, with absolute contempt and disrespect."

Garcia said UNA treated its alliance with One Cebu ''as nothing more than a marriage of convenience."

Garcia explained that UNA did not reciprocate the loyalty it had shown to the vice-president's party. It said UNA went on sorties in the province without prior notice or consultation with One Cebu.