Liberal Party leaders in the Eastern Visayas admitted to the media that presidential candidate Mar Roxas is haunted by his failure during the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda. The failure of the former DILG Secretary was even seen by world-renowned journalist Cooper of CNN. The failure of Mar Roxas was evidently seen not only by the residents of ground zero, Tacloban City but by the international communities as well.
According to LP leader in the Eastern Visayas Region, Raul Daza, the government handling of the Yolanda disaster and its aftermath, especially in the city of Tacloban, which have 40 percent of the entire voting population of Eastern Visayas, has been a political issue.
Eastern Visayas has a voting population of 2.69 million with Leyte province having the biggest voting population share of 1.15 million. Yolanda’s ground zero, Tacloban city, which has a voting population of 124,777 could not forget the failure of the government’s leadership particularly the man who was supposed to be the in-charge of the local government, presidential candidate Mar Roxas.
Although the Liberal Party in the Eastern Province was supported by Governors Conrado Nicart of Eastern Samar, Roger Mercado of Southern Leyte, Gerry Espina Jr. of Biliran, Jose Ong of Northern Samar and Leopoldo Dominico Petilla of Leyte, they can’t be sure if the followers of those mentioned leaders could convince their constituent to vote for the Roxas-Robredo tandem.
In Tacloban City according to some residents, they will never forget someone who came to the rescue without getting so much attention from the press, it was Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who the people of Tacloban remembered during the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was one of the few local government leaders who responded to the city’s needs by bringing his elite Davao City Central 911 for relief, rescue and retrieval operations in Tacloban City.