President Duterte last Sunday at the Masskara Festival in Bacolod City endorsed Kabayan Partylist Representative Harry Roque for senator in the 2019 senatorial elections.
At the start of his speech, he introduced Roque to the Negrenses by asking him to stand up: “ ‘Ti nga kandidato ko ni pagka-Senador, kadtong ngari ko ga…subong ga kampanya na. Wa pa ko nakalimot kay Harry, ha. Ano lang ‘yan. (He’s my candidate for senator. My coming is to… now I’m campaigning. I have not forgotten Harry.)
At that moment, I was texting Harry to verify talks going around that he would be replacing Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella. ( We tried to contact Secretary Abella to confirm this but didn’t get a reply.)