Rody expects black propa after topping 2 surveys

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
The camp of presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte expects more black propaganda and personal attacks after Duterte topped the two surveys released this week. 
“We have been seeing old issues being resurrected with more intensity,” Duterte’s national campaign manager Leoncio Evasco said in a statement.
Evasco said the vilification campaign against Duterte will reach new heights now that he has taken the lead in voter preference.
Duterte topped the two recent surveys of Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations (SWS). The Pulse Asia survey is commissioned by ABS-CBN. 
Mayor Duterte rose to 30 percent in the Pulse Asia Survey and topped the SWS survey with 27 percent.
Evasco said they will not back down from these “sinister attacks.”
“We have truth on our side,” he said. “They cannot shoot down the clamor of the people for real and genuine change.  And Mayor Rody Duterte is the embodiment of that desire of the people desperate for a new and decisive leadership,” he said.
He said it is normal for other presidential camps and opponents to train their guns on Duterte.
“Having overtaken them in surveys, they now find themselves trailing and they want to pull us down by throwing everything imaginable at the Davao City mayor — all of them not flattering,” Evasco said.
Evasco said he is confident that all the accusations thrown at Duterte are answerable.
“We are not presumptuous, but we have been expecting this. Whether we are at the bottom, middle or top, people who are threatened by a Duterte victory will employ all means to destroy his image and reputation.  That is the name of the election game in Philippine politics, unfortunately,” he said
Evasco called on supporters to rally behind and counter all attacks and black propaganda against Duterte with more vigorous campaigning and promotion of the Duterte brand of leadership.
“Mayor Duterte is our last card. When you throw your support, you are investing in your future.  Other camps are trying to steal that future from us.  Let us pray, and be even more vigilant and protect our dreams for a better future,” he said.
Earlier, his opponents Vice President Jejomar Binay and former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas scoffed at Duterte’s promise of eradicating crimes and illegal drugs in three to six months.
Binay, in video circulated in social media, appealed to the people not to vote for Duterte because he is person who has no moral responsibility.
“Tuloy-tuloy ang kanyang pagyayabang at pagsasabi ni Mr. Duterte na pag siya ang naging pangulo, ipagpatuloy niya ang pagpatay sa mga napapagbintangan niyang may ginawang kasalanan na paglabag sa batas (Mr. Duterte continuously boast that if he becomes the president, he will continue to kill people who are just implicated in a crime or violation of law without due process),” Binay said.
He said the victims are usually young people, an allegation which Duterte reportedly  did not deny.
“Siya nga ang namumuno ng death squad sa Davao (Duterte lead the death squad in Davao),” Binay added.
The Vice President said the people should really think many times in voting Duterte before they will regret it at the end.
On the other hand, Roxas said Duterte represents the biggest threat to Philippine democracy since the late former President Ferdinand Marcos and stressed that he would fight anyone who would advocate a return to martial rule.
Roxas said that the actions and conduct of Duterte speaks of a dictatorship.
Roxas also called the tough-talking Duterte a liar because Davao remains one of the most dangerous places in the Philippines throughout his more than 20 years as chief local executive of Davao City and chair of the Region 11 peace and order council.