- Team Progreso Standard Bearer Mayor Evelio Leonardia said their team is based on performances
- Businessman Dan Atayde lays out platforms including sports, education, and health and claims that the incumbent congressman copied him
- Vice-Mayor El Cid Familiaran explains why he stuck it out with the mayor especially with the current health crisis
BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines — The crowd chanted, “Mayor Bing, Mayor Bing!” and howled when the standard bearer of the administration Grupo Progreso took the stage to address them.
It was a sea of greens and reds, with banners professing loyalty to the team, as speaker after speaker roared the rallying cry for the evening: Abante (Onward)!
The opening salvo of the administration’s Grupo Progreso, held at the Bacolod Public Plaza was marked with performances from homegrown talents as the administration underscored their battlecry of preferring the “tumandok” (native) over “pangayaw” (foreigner).
“Gugma indi kwarta (love not money),” Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia told the cheering crowd as he implied that his rival former third district Cong. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez is using money to win the May 2022 elections.
Vice Mayor El Familiaran, who is gunning for a third and final term as vice-mayor, also said all the officials were tested when COVID struck but he stuck it out with the mayor GP despite invitations to join other parties because he believed and trusted in the mayor’s leadership.
Other candidates also took turns at mic as they are introduced by former Councilor Em Ang, and hosts Yasmin Pascual Dormido and Mark Gabriel Salanga.
Businessman Dan Atayde, who is challenging incumbent Cong. Greg Gasataya, laid down his platform of health, sports, and education — the same flagship projects that the congressman has been pushing and implementing since 2016.
“My opponent is merely copying me (nangopya),” he said.
The opening salvo was marked with jingles and slogans as supporters clamor for continuity.
