In Danger. Opposition senatorial candidate Alan Peter Cayetano is in danger of losing votes because of Joselito. He has decided to drop the name “Peter” from his campaign.
Some of Joselitos friends said he may have been coerced. He may have been forced into this, Saluta said. He was told that a company would hire him for a job in Manila but now things turned out differently.
According to Saluta, her neighbors saw two big men on a vehicle — men who looked like they were rich come around the place one day. The next thing they know, Joselito was on TV running for senator.
But Alejandro denied this. He said Joselito was not fetched by some strange men but, rather, he packed his belongings and went to Manila with his wife and two children.
He was captured by the Mulawins, Boado, Joselitos coworker at the trucking company, joked when davaotoday.com asked him about Joselitos disappearance, sending the other workers at the canteen laughing. Mulawins are mythical eagles popularized in a Filipino TV series.
Alejandro said his brother is not a nuisance candidate because he is backed by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) with other senatorial candidates like lawyer Oliver Lozano and the former singer Victor Wood. He also denied someone was behind his brothers candidacy.
(Lozano is allegedly being used by the Arroyo administration to ruin Alan Peter Cayetanos candidacy. Lozano was the same lawyer who filed the first, but defective, impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, supposedly to preclude the filing of a stronger complaint against the president, who, under the Constitution, can only be the subject of one impeachment complaint a year.)
In an earlier report, Ilocos Norte Governor Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos denied having a Joselito P. Cayetano as member of the KBL although Lozano insisted that Joselito is a KBL member from Davao aligned with one Vicente Millora.
Alejandro also said Alan Cayetano, the congressman, was not angry with Joselito running for the Senate in the upcoming elections. Cayetano visited them when the Genuine Opposition party campaigned in Davao early this month, said Alejandro, who took out a newspaper which published a photo of Alan and Joselitos nephew together with Conrada, Joselitos mother. Cayetanos group also pasted campaign stickers on the doors and walls in the neighborhood.
Victor Wood and Oliver Lozano recently made a visit to the community but only stayed for a short while. The familys only contact with Joselito is through phone and text messages.
We will support him, said Gilbert Cayetano, another brother of Joselitos, who refused to say more. Alejandro said there will be no looking back for Joselito.
Some of Joselitos neighbors share that sentiment. I am proud that somebody from this squatters area had the guts to run for senator, said Ramil Orbeta, 33, a checker at Philport and Joselitos neighbor.
We hope now that once hes in the Senate, well no longer be dispersed here, said Irene Yallto, 23, another neighbor. She said their community is constantly under threat of demolition. (Grace Uddin/davaotoday.com)
[tags]davao today, alan peter cayetano, 2007 elections, philippines, philippine politics, davao city[/tags]
2007 Elections
