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VICE presidential aspirant Loren Legarda would not confirm if she got the ?much-sought? endorsement of One Cebu following a meeting with party chairman and Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
Legarda, however, said she cancelled all her March 26 appointments in order to attend the local party?s grand rally in Argao town on that day.
?I need Gwen,? Legarda said yesterday, eyeing Cebu's potential 2.4 million votes for her vice presidential bid. ?Cebu will be the swing vote in the election.?
Legarda, vice presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party, hasn't given up on seeking Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia?s endorsement through the One Cebu party and told a news conference she would be ?patient? about waiting.
Her chances are looking good.
Legarda presented two Garcias under her wing as her local advocates during a lunch meeting with newspaper editors and columnists yesterday.
Legarda introduced the governor's daughter, Cristina Codilla Frasco, as her Visayas spokesperson on women and children's rights and welfare.
Also by Legarda's side was a niece of the governor, 23-year-old Esperanza Garcia, who said she volunteered to join the campaign to advance awareness on climate change and environment protection, especially among the youth.
Esperanza, who was the Philippine's only youth delegate to the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change in December, is a daughter of Winston Garcia, brother of the governor.
?They are young, brilliant, articulate and share my advocacies,? said Legarda, who fondly called them her ?duplicate Lorens.?
But Legarda clarified that her work with the younger Garcias has nothing to do with her goal of getting the governor's endorsement.
At the Capitol, the governor met with Legarda in the afternoon but made no pronouncement that she would be supported by One Cebu.
Legarda is running on a platform of protection of the environment in her ?Luntiang Pilipinas? tree planting program, and women empowerment.
She authored the Clean Air Act, and Solid Waste Management Act, aside from laws against child labor and violence against women.
Governor Garcia and One Cebu are in the ?green? team campaigning for Lakas-NUCD standard bearer Gilbert ?Gibo? Teodoro but have remained silent about which vice president to support. (Actor Edu Manzano, Teodoro's pair, has been virtually given the cold shoulder by the Cebu administration party.)
Cristina, a lawyer and wife of Liloan Mayor Duke Frasco, said she would not speak for her mother ?who is supportive of my independence? but that ?all of us remain hopeful? of an endorsement because Gwen and Legarda share the ?passion? for the same advocacies.
She said she began to know Legarda when the senator supported her after a Japanese punched her at the airport. Since then, Frasco said, she has been a supporter of Legarda's advocacies, especially for women and children.
The lawyer said that while her mother left her free to choose which candidates to support, she is hoping that the governor and One Cebu would eventually endorse Legarda.
Mayor Frasco has publicly endorsed Legarda's vice presidential bid.
?One step at a time,? said Legarda in the press conference at the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug. ?I?m a patient person.?
The senator was one of the wedding sponsors of the Frasco couple when they tied the knot last year, along with Joseph ?Erap? Estrada, an old Frasco family friend.
Legarda is also set to attend the formal announcement of One Cebu's candidates on March 27 at the Quisumbing headquarters in Mandaue City.
?I don't know (if I will be endorsed). I am praying, I have been invited to the Suroy-suroy and I want to be there again,? Legarda added. ?Ipinapagdasal ko but I leave it to my kumadre, Governor Garcia,. Whatever happens magkumadre kami, whatever happens magkaibigan kami. She has my full admiration and what she has done for Cebu was really monumental and makes me admire (her), so I am hopeful, I am praying, I am hoping for that much-sought endorsement.?
For her part, the governor said that Legarda is invited to join the grand rally since it is open to everyone, especially candidates who shared One Cebu's programs.
She said she would make formal announcements on March 27 at the inauguration of congressional aspirant Luigi Quisumbing's headquarters in Mandaue City.
One Cebu, she added, will also be announcing the senatorial candidates they will be supporting in the elections. Garcia hinted that about 9 or 10 slots have already been filled.
