MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte--Governor Damian Mercado is predicting a dominant victory for the UniTeam duo here, President Duterte's province of birth.
The UniTeam is composed of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer Bongbong Marcos and his running mate, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) vice presidential bet and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
“For BBM (Bongbong Marcos)-Sara , 80 percent ang majority natin dito (a majority of 80 percent here will vote for them) ,” Mercado said in an interview.
Minutes earlier, Mercado addressed the mammoth crowd that attended the scheduled UniTeam rally at Maasin City Terminal here. He apologized for Marcos's absence in the rally due to bad weather.
Mercado said 17 of Southern Leyte’s 18 town mayors, plus the mayor of Maasin City, and majority of barangay chairmen are all supporting the UniTeam tandem.
President Duterte, Mayor Duterte's father, was born in this city on March 28, 1945.
Incidentally, the elder Duterte has yet to explicitly endorse a candidate in the May 9 Palace race. However, this hasn't stopped his party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) Cusi wing, from endorsing the candidacy of Marcos, who is a former senator.
Marcos's mother, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, is from Leyte.
Mayor Duterte, who had earlier gained PDP-Laban's endorsement, also failed to make it to the UniTeam rally.
Vice Governor Christopherson "Coco" Yap said they have to help Marcos and Duterte win in the polls since they are considered Leyteños.
“Taga sa amin eh, sino pa ba magtutulungan, kami-kami din. Taga-Leyte silang dalawa (They're from here, and who else would help them but us. Both of them are from Leyte). So our hearts, our love, and support are nasa kanila talaga, nasa dalawa, nasa tandem na BBM-Sara (with the two of them, with the BBM-Sara tandem). So si BBM and Sara can expect na majority 'yung makukuha nila dito sa Southern Leyte (So BBM and Sara can expect to get majority of the votes ,” he said.
In a statement, Marcos thanked the Maasin crowd for attending the UniTeam rally. He promised to schedule another activity soon so that he would be able to touch base with locals.
"My apologies to all of you na naghintay ng matagal at naghanda (who waited for a long time and prepared). I'll make it up to you, babawi ako sa naging problema natin, maraming-maraming salamat (I'll make it up to you regarding this problem, thank you very much)," the Ilocano bet added.