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BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter and GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Thursday, April 6, 2017
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte was searching for a point man in Iloilo and found one in Iloilo City councilor Jeffrey Ganzon.
The President summoned Ganzon to a meeting in Davao City on March 27 and invited the city councilor to join his Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
“The President said he doesn’t have a ‘point man’ in Iloilo City but acknowledged the help of several Ilonggo doctors during last year’s elections,” said Ganzon, son of the late senator Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon.
One of the groups that supported Duterte was the Family Physicians Association and according to Ganzon, his elder brother Dr. Denfield Ganzon was the group’s president.
The President reached out to him right after the elections, according to the councilor.
“The meeting was long planned. After the elections, he posted on Facebook, ‘I need one of the Ganzons.’ I did not respond right away…playing hard to get pero ang matuod wala ako pamlete,” said Ganzon.
He was with four Duterte campaign coordinators from Antique, Iloilo and Bicol during the Davao meeting that lasted for over an hour.
“He told (Special Assistant to the President) Bong Go, ipasok mo sa PDP-Laban, kay (Sen. Aquilino) Pimentel (III),” said Ganzon.
Pimentel is the PDP-Laban president.
Ganzon ran for city councilor under the Liberal Party (LP) and topped the race.
“I told the President I ran under the LP because I wanted to be No. 1,” he said. “But my loyalty has always been with the people, not the party.”
The LP was then the dominant political party.
“The President asked me if I have a derogatory record especially in graft and corruption and illegal drugs. I told him I don’t. Sa baba ya mismo naghalin nga, ‘Ikaw lang da himuon ko nga tawo,’” said Ganzon.
The councilor said he assured the President he won’t be embarrassed taking him in.
“I have never been involved in graft and corruption,” said Ganzon.
The councilor said he and the President shared the same advocacies – federalism, war against drugs, graft and corruption.
“So wala conflict, so gin-accept ko,” he said.
It helped that the President was an admirer of the late senator Ganzon, added the councilor.
Ganzon, however, said the date of his oath-taking to PDP-Laban was yet to be set.
He also said local politics was not discussed and declined to speculate on his possible running for Iloilo City mayor in 2019 as PDP-Laban candidate.
“My priority is to earn a doctorate degree in Theology. Wala na ‘ya ang pulitika sa akon kay nagapati ako nga pre-destined na mo,” he said. “Bisan ano mo ka palagyo kon para sa imo, para sa imo. Wala ko na ginpasulod sa ulo ko. Basta gapangayo lang ko wisdom sa Ginuo kag discerning heart.”
Ganzon also revealed that the President has a “negative impression” on Iloilo, which he called the “most shabu-lized” in the country.
“Pinakita niya sa akon ang isa ka libro nga Iloilo gid ang No. 1 sa drugs,” said Ganzon./PN
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