Voters in Parañaque City expressed shock when actor-comedian and former city Mayor Joey Marquez endorsed the ticket of incumbent Mayor Edwin Olivarez over the team of his son Jeremy Marquez.
In a campaign rally of Team Bagong Parañaque over the weekend, the elder Marquez raised the hand of Olivarez instead of former Mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr. after his speech before the residents of Barangay BF Homes.
Jeremy Marquez is the vice mayoral running mate of Bernabe, a candidate of the Lakas-CMD party. He was former village chairman of Barangay BF and is going up against incumbent Vice Mayor Rico Golez.
Former Mayor Marquez, who led the city from 1995 to 2004, also raised the hand of Golez during the campaign rally, showing he endorsed the Olivarez-Golez tandem over the Bernabe-Marquez duo.
Joey Marquez said he supports Olivarez because of the many projects the incumbent mayor has done to uplift the lives of city residents and has settled the P2-billion debt left by the previous administration.
Besides the endorsement from the actor-politician, Parañaque’s political bigwigs—the Tambuntings, Sottos, Yllanas, Ferrers, Golezes, and Benzons—have thrown their support to the Olivarez team.
Olivarez is running for his third and last term, while Bernabe is seeking to return to the mayoralty he held for three consecutive terms from 2004—succeeding Joey Marquez.
In the latest RP-Mission and Development Foundation Inc. survey report of Metro Manila electoral posts, Olivarez enjoyed a high 65-percent rating from prospective voters over Bernabe’s 34 percent.
The survey did not mention Parañaque’s two other independent mayoral candidates, Maria Theresa Salceda and Zandro Mate.
