Church vows 10-million votes for Fernando

Former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, the vice presidential candidate of Bagumbayan Party, has received the endorsement of the Church Without Wall International (CWOW), a religious group with connection to 20,000 evangelical and Catholic churches in the country.

In a press statement, Archbishop John E. Ayudtud, the head of CWOW, said Fernando is the most qualified candidate for the position, saying there is no other man in political office like Fernando who cares genuinely for the people as evidenced by what he did to Marikina and Metro Manila.

Fernando was former mayor of Marikina City before he assumed the chairmanship of the MMDA.

Ayudtud said he believes that his strategy of “Bayani Evangelism” is an effective vehicle that would help the former MMDA chairman get elected as vice president. This can be achieved through person-to-person evangelization campaign which he called “Conversion-Duplication-Enlistment.”

“As pastors, we are trained to evangelize people, to accept Jesus Christ as personal savior. In the next three months, we will shift our evangelism work to put Fernando into office. Our battlecry in this parallel campaign is: Bayani Cares,” he added.

“I don’t have any doubt that through this strategy, with 100 pastors/workers duplicating exponentially daily up to the May 10 elections, that we will have 10 million voters in our database,” Ayudtud said.

Fernando is the running mate of Senator Richard Gordon under the Bagumbayan – Volunteers for the New Philippines Party.

Gordon and Fernando 'the transformers' get their act on the road

Now, two politician-administrators who pride themselves as "modernizers" have chosen this same town to launch their campaign to win the Philippines' top two posts in the coming May elections, and apply to the entire country what they say they achieved in Olongapo City and Marikina City, respectively.

At their proclamation rally in Imus on Tuesday, Bagumbayan standard bearer Sen. Richard Gordon and his running mate Bayani Fernando vowed to take their "Transformers" image seriously, and improve the education system and provide modernization to ensure progress for the country.

'Infrastructure czar'

Addressing the question of the Sangley Point port facility, Gordon wisely chose to focus on his now-familiar theme of taking a seemingly hopeless case and turning it into a success story.

He said among the first thing he would rehabilitate in Cavite once elected was Sangley Point, and modernize it into a container port. Projects like this, he said, would generate jobs for the people.

Gordon has repeatedly claimed that among his biggest achievements so far was the conversion of the huge Subic Bay Naval Base, a huge US naval facility adjacent to Olongapo City, into the Subic Bay Freeport under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Sangley Point, a former US naval base in Cavite, was turned over much earlier to the Philippine government in 1971 but quickly deteriorated thereafter.

In that regard, Gordon said he would appoint Fernando, former chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, as "infrastructure czar" that would oversee all the government projects for modernization, including railways and roads.

Bets should know where to post ads

-All candidates, even former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Bayani Fernando, who is running for vice president, should direct their people to post their campaign materials only in designated places, said current MMDA Chair Oscar Inocentes.

“Being a former chairman, he (Fernando) knows that there are rules to be implemented. These candidates should be good examples to their followers,” Inocentes said in a statement.

Inocentes vowed to tear down all campaign materials found outside the designated areas in Metro Manila, “irrespective of political parties and affiliations.”

He said campaign posters were destroying the visual landscape of Metro Manila and violated the provisions of the Fair Elections Act regarding common poster areas.

He warned candidates and their political parties that legal cases would be filed against them should they fail to follow the rules on campaign advertisements.

As in previous elections, the MMDA is waiting to be deputized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to be the lead agency in removing illegal posters.

An agreement between the MMDA and the Comelec is expected to be signed at the regular Metro Manila Council meeting on Feb. 18.

Simultaneous with the start of the official campaign period, the MMDA has ordered its Roadway/Sidewalk Clearing Operations Group to remove all campaign materials illegally posted along major thoroughfares