Cebu City (CNN Philippines) — The new allies of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte came into his defense after his controversial rape comment.
One Cebu gubernatorial candidate Winston Garcia defended Duterte saying the statement should be taken in proper context.
“It was a joke,” he said. “It should be taken in that context. It was a joke. Although not a proper joke, but still it is a joke.”
Read: Presidential rivals take swipe at Duterte for rape statement
At the sidelines of the formal launching of the alliance between Duterte’s PDP-Laban and Garcia’s One Cebu Party, several candidates continued to pledge support for the Davao City Mayor.
Among them was former Cebu Gov. Lito Osmena, a pioneer in the calls for federalism during his presidential bid in the 1990s.
Duterte has been advocating federalism just like Osmena.
The former Cebu governor said that he didn’t need to campaign for Duterte because he was clearly winning the presidential race.
Soon, he said, Malacañan Palace would be speaking in Cebuano (referring to Duterte who is a native Cebuano speaker).
Osmena also criticized the Aquino administration for privatizing the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, as the earnings were brought to Manila and the Cebuanos were only given a meager share.
Read: Aquino breaks ground on P32B Cebu airport terminal project
He said that his dream of a federal form of government would soon be realized and what happened to the Mactan-Cebu airport would no longer be repeated.
