Run, Peter, Run. Joselito Cayetano (left) being endorsed by Oliver Lozano in this KBL campaign poster
Joselito?s family, however, supports him. ?Anybody can use any nickname,? said Joselito?s elder brother Alejandro, 51, who was also surprised by his brother?s decision to run. ?Just like ?Kiko? or perhaps ?Vilma Santos?,? he added.
Alejandro dismissed the suggestion that his brother does not have the right to seek public office. ?Just because he is poor he doesn?t have the right to run?? he asked.
?He is a poor but he is a good man,? said Juanito Flores, the leader of Sasa village who said he became friends with Joselito when the latter used to participate in basketball competitions in the village. (Many of Joselito?s neighbors and relatives were hesitant to be interviewed, while some asked that their names not be used.)
Alejandro said he has become annoyed at the sudden media attention on his brother. He insists that his brother?s nickname is Peter, although neighbors said they?ve never heard Joselito being addressed by that name before and that they always called him Jojo.
Some of Joselito?s neighbors who used to work with him at the Davao Integrated Port and Stevedoring Services Corporation (DIPSSCOR), where he worked as a checker and subsequently an acting foreman for 20 years, told davaotoday.com that there used to be three Peters working at the company: Peter gamay (small), Peter dako (big) and another Peter. According to them, Joselito was not one of these Peters.
At the Kudos Trucking Corporation, where Joselito worked since last year, his co-workers were surprised to hear him run for senator. As far as they know, Joselito filed a three-day leave from his job but it has been two months since they last saw him. Company officials refused to be interviewed.
?We only found out on television that he will run,? said one worker who calls himself Peter.
According to the security guard on duty, Joselito works there as a driver. He described him as an ?extra-dor? or one who is not a regular employee and only works if he?s needed and called by the company. ?He used to drive that Fantuzzi,? the guard said, pointing at the huge Fantuzzi Regiane, a cargo loader, parked nearby. The equipment is operated by another man now.
Even the personnel of the canteen where Joselito and his colleagues used to buy and eat snacks were surprised by all this.
Alexander Boado Jr., a coworker, said Joselito was known at their workplace only as Cayetano, not as Peter nor Jojo. When one personnel from the canteen asked who Boado was describing to davaotoday.com, Boado replied: ?Si Cayetano ba. Si Jojo gud. (It?s Cayetano. You know, Jojo).?
Flores, the Sasa barangay leader, said he knew Joselito as Jojo but, to him, nicknames don?t matter because these change. ?I used to be called Junior,? Flores said. ?But now my constituents call me Toto.?
