Bicolanos give Leni overwhelming victory

NAGA CITY — With 64.5 percent of them  voting for Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, the Bicolanos have rallied behind their favorite among the five of six candidates for vice president whose roots or affinity originate from the region of their birth.

A businessman and senior adviser for foreign companies in the Philippines, Christopher Dy-Liaco declared there is indeed a “Bicol vote” to reckon with.

“If there are doubts of a Bicol vote before, Leni has proven that there is. But the Bicol vote is not a regional vote per se. It’s not a command vote because Bicolano voters defied power broker impositions to vote for Chiz,” Dy-Liaco stressed.

In the unofficial count, Robredo got 1,499,923 votes out of the 2,325,418 votes cast in the six provinces of Bicol. Trailing behind her is Sen. Chiz Escudero who garnered 476,483 or 20.5 percent of the votes cast in the region.

Other vice presidential candidates rooted or with affinity in Bicol shared miniscule percentage from Bicol vote like Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano who got only 3 percent; Sen. Antonio Trillanes, 2 percent; and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, 1.5 percent. Bicolanos placed Sen. Bongbong Marcos in the third place with 8.1 percent of the total votes Bicolanos cast on May 9.

“It’s not a regional vote that’s based on localities, because if it is so, Trillanes should have had more votes in Albay third district (where he hailed from), or Gringo having more votes in Sorsogon. It is not a blind vote that bases its criteria on mere regionalism,” Dy-Liaco said.

He added that the Bicol vote is a thinking vote because it selects the best that represents Bicol or the sentiments and aspirations of the Bicolanos.

“Bicol should unite behind Leni and put aside differences. We have a lot of talented Bicolanos who should volunteer for the programs and advocacies of Leni. Volunteer. It made a difference for the victory of Digong (presumptive president Mayor Rodrigo Duterte) and Leni. That is clear as both were mass movement type formations. Unite and volunteer.” Dy-Liaco concluded.

Renee Gumba, a political science instructor and former Research Associate of the Ateneo de Naga University Social Science Research Center, said the Bicol vote should not be equated with Bicolanos solidly voting for a particular candidate.

“We should equate Bicol vote to the majority of the Bicolanos campaigning and voting for particular candidate,” Gumba said.

He said the Bicol vote was made concrete by Robredo’s candidacy with the majority vote she earned in the elections.

Newly elected Camarines Sur second district Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte said he had been very optimistic on Robredo’s run for the vice presidential race because he believed she is the force that can unite Bicol.

Villafuerte said that because of Robredo’s sincerity in which she exudes she was able to summon the Bicol vote that surfaces when a candidate for national position possesses a unifying character that gives hope to the region.

Camarines Sur first district Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. also agreed that there is a Bicol vote in the sense that even among his peers in their political alliance in Camarines Sur with different presidential candidates Robredo was single-handedly supported.

Audy Concina, a staff of Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella, revealed that even though the Fuentebellas campaigned and supported Vice President Jejomar Binay they supported Robredo.

Concina said the selection of Robredo as the candidate of the Fuentebellas was done through voting among them and the leading vice presidential candidate won.