CEBU CITY, Cebu--Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has pegged Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer Bongbong Marcos's potential margin of victory in the province at over one million votes.
Garcia, leader of the One Cebu local party, made this remark during a chance interview with reporters following the UniTeam grand rally here at the Citi de Mare open grounds along SRP Coastal Road.
The rally was branded by Marcos himself as the "biggest rally" ever assembled for UniTeam in the current campaign. This was saying something, given the impressive, six-digit strong rallies that Marcos had witnessed in past UniTeam rallies all over the country.
"Sabi ko (I said) I do not wish to give numbers, but if we do a little review and that happened in the past, in 2004 we delivered , imagine lamang (margin of victory), and we talked about votes, a margin of 1.2 million, margin of GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) over FPJ (Fernando Poe Jr.)," Garcia said.
"If you recall she won the presidency in 2004, due the margin of about 1.1 or 1.2 and that is why she took her oath of office here," she said of Arroyo.
It was more of the same during the 2016 presidential race, which was eventually won by then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
"In 2016 President Rodrigo Roa Duterte ran, One Cebu truly support the candidacy of PRRD and won with a margin of about of 1.2 , a margin again, lamang, over Mar Roxas," she recalled.
Garcia said this came at a time when One Cebu wasn't as united as it is now.
"Ngayon (Now) I'm governor, the mayor of Cebu City, the mayor of Lapu-Lapu City, the mayor of Mandaue city and I representing 44 towns and six component cities have now thrown our support behind the UniTeam so kaya (that's why) for the first time, we have this One Cebu island phenomenon."
Asked if PFP bet Marcos's potential margin of victory in Cebu in the May 9 polls would exceed a million votes, Garcia answered yes.
She hinted that vice presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who is the other half of UniTeam, could win her race by the same margin in Cebu.
"You do the math by comparison, I think we will be greater than what can be the previous margins of votes, lamang, and it also helps BBM and Inday Sara are way ahead over their next...and so certainly we would also have to give that tribute back to the UniTeam," she said.
Duterte, the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) chairperson, acts as Marcos's running mate in the polls next month. Both Marcos and Duterte have been consistent survey leaders.