HOUSE Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta the most vocal legislator opposing the franchise renewal bid of local media ABS-CBN Corp. has backed out of the May 9, 2022 senatorial race.
In a press statement, Marcoleta said he decided to drop his senatorial bid following his “poor” rating in pre-election surveys.
“The fighter in me should also be brave enough to read the writings on the wall,” Marcoleta said.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in a recent one-on-one interview with Marcoleta, revealed that he was one of the people who lobbied the lawmaker to run for senator.
During the President’s Chatroom aired on state-run PTV-4 on April 9, Duterte praised Marcoleta for being a “principled man, extremely honest and a [man] with integrity.”
Marcoleta thanked Duterte for the “positive and generous endorsement” of his candidacy for senator.
He also expressed gratitude to the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the People’s Reform Party, and the UniTeam for including him in their respective senatorial slates.
Marcoleta also assured the senatorial candidates of the UniTeam and PDP-Laban of his “all-out and continuing” support.
“I will be indebted forever to several people who chipped in their resources, time and tons of hardwork into my memorable campaign. I thank the hundreds of parallel support groups and thousand of volunteers who believed in my advocacies and the measures that must be pursued for the common good. I just hope that they will all be so kind and accommodating enough to understand,” he said.
Despite his withdrawal, Marcoleta vowed to continue supporting the UniTeam tandem of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara “Inday” Duterte.
“The BBM-Sara tandem exemplifies the politics of unity and working together, despite the divergent political persuasions, for the sake of the motherland – an element that is conspicuously absent in other teams,” Marcoleta said.
Photo courtesy vera files
