Gibo woos vote-rich Metro Manila

Administration party presidential bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Tuesday shifted his campaign from outlying provinces to key cities in Metro Manila, visiting public markets and campuses in the national capital region. Lawyer Mike Toledo, Teodoro’s spokesperson, said Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s move to focus on the capital region is part of their strategy to target “key areas" during the campaign period. “We need to cover as much areas as we can. This is why we are concentrating now in one of our strong areas, which is Metro Manila," he told GMANews.TV in a phone interview on Tuesday. Metro Manila has a total of 5.4 million voters in the upcoming polls, based on latest records from the Commission on Elections. The Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer toured on Tuesday various malls and public markets in the cities of Malabon and Caloocan. Teodoro also visited local officials aligned with the administration party in these cities, including Malabon-Navotas Rep. Alvin Sandoval and Malabon City Mayor Canuto Oreta. Teodoro is also set to go to urban poor communities such as Payatas and Batasan Hills in Quezon City, according to Toledo. “Ito ay para ipakita na hindi binabalewala ni Secretary Teodoro ang lower C, D and E classes. (This is to show that Secretary Teodoro does not take the lower C, D and E classes for granted.) Sec.Teodoro’s campaign treats all voters the same. Si Gibo ay para sa lahat (Gibo is for everyone)," he said. Lakas-Kampi-CMD vice-president Prospero Pichay had earlier said that Teodoro’s lackluster performance in surveys had something to do with his earlier ads, which appealed to the ABC social brackets but did not connect with the poor and their gut issues. Teodoro continues to trail in various nationwide surveys on presidential preferences, landing in fourth place after Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party, Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista Party, and Joseph Estrada of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino. (See: Aquino, Villar neck and neck in latest Pulse Asia survey)—JV, GMANews.TV