Labor leaders pick bets
WITH the election less than two weeks away, Labor Day activities yesterday also served as venues to endorse some candidates.
In Fuente Osmeña, labor leaders urged rallyists to vote for Akbayan and TUCP Party-List, as well as senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros of the Liberal Party.
On Colon St., rally leaders urged the people to vote for independent Senate candidate Teddy Casiño and Anakpawis Party-List. Both Hontiveros and Casiño served in the Lower House as party-list representatives for Akbayan and Bayan Muna, respectively.
Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon, who is running for reelection, was allowed to address the Fuente rally crowd, whom he reminded that before he became a councilor in 2010, he was already involved in the labor movement.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) endorsed the entire slate of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), except for former Cebu City councilor Nestor Archival.
Archival said he cannot force himself on ALU-TUCP.
“Okay ra man seguro. I cannot force myself on them. They have their choices and I respect that,” Archival told Sun.Star Cebu.
Art Barrit, ALU-TUCP director for education, said the selection of candidates to support was sanctioned by TUCP Party-List Rep. Raymond Mendoza, national president Michael Mendoza, national executive vice president Gerard Seno and TUCP Party-List overall campaign manager Louie Porral.
Barrit said they are not supporting Archival simply because the former city councilor did not ask for ALU-TUCP’s support.
The group claims to have at least 17,000 members in all of Cebu, about 12,000 of them in Cebu City.
The city has 547,681 registered voters.
Barrit also explained they are supporting Boobi Kintanar of Team Rama instead of Archival, because he is the grandson of the late congressman Isidro Kintanar, who facilitated the issuance of a franchise to DYLA, the Cebu-based radio station of ALU-TUCP.
Rep. Tomas Osmena, who is running for Cebu City mayor against incumbent Mayor Michael Rama, was present when ALU-TUCP announced their support for BOPK.
“In behalf of LP (Liberal Party) and BOPK and Vice Mayor Joy Young, Congressman Raul del Mar and Bebot Abellanosa and the candidates for councilor, we thank ALU-TUCP for the endorsement. We will not fail you,” Osmeña said.
Osmena also said that Archival does not need an endorsement from any group because he always landed number one in their in-house surveys.
Told about that, Archival said that the congressman may be joking.
Barrit said another reason the group decided to support the BOPK and Osmeña was that the latter had helped the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. in renewing their cargo handling service contract at the Cebu International Port.