Marcos mayors erode Leni’s vote in Negros Occidental

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental – Presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr did not come near the landslide win promised by allies in Negros Occidental. But the overwhelming number of mayors backing the son and namesake of the late dictator ate up a chunk of the votes rival candidate Vice President Leni Robredo won here in 2016.

Partial, unofficial results from the Commission on Elections transparency servers as of 3:47 pm on Tuesday, May 10, showed Robredo with a margin of less than 50,000 over Marcos.

With 99.8% of election returns in the province processed, Robredo had 527,321 votes to Marcos’ 482,344.

In the 2016 vice presidential race, Robredo got 614,440 votes while Marcos only received 119,149. 

Robredo was almost 10,000 votes behind Marcos in Bacolod, with 112,051 votes to Marcos’ 121,179.

The province’s independent capital, which had held pride in being a center of Robredo’s “kakampink” volunteer network, has a separate count from the province.

Billionaire Albee Benitez, who won the mayoral race by a landslide against incumbent Evelio “Bing’ Leonardia, campaigned for Marcos in what has been one of the most expensive campaigns the city has witnessed – complete with raffles with big-ticket prizes and a series of rock concerts featuring national stars like Bamboo and Parokya ni Edgar.

The big winner in the province count is Marcos’ running mate, Davao mayor Sara Duterte as even many pro-Robredo officials backed the daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Sara garnerred 475,852 according to the Comelec transparency server’s 3:47 pm May 10 count, almost 100,000 ahead of Robredo running mate Senator Kiko Pangilingan, who received 376,288 votes.

In the 2016 vice presidential race, Robredo got 614,440 votes while Marcos only received 119,149.  In Bacolod, Sara got 120,294 to Kiko’s 76,095 votes.

Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer in April forecast a landslide victory for Marcos in the province that his father brought to its knees in the 1980s after he established sugar trading monopolies controlled by his cronies. – Rappler.com