The grassroots support of presidential candidate Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso swelled exponentially after MP NATION, the biggest and most organized group of volunteer organizations originally pushing for the presidential candidacy of Sen. Manny Pacquiao, has switched its loyalty to the standard-bearer of the Aksyon Demokratiko.
MP Nation lead convenor Col. Dani Enriquez said it was a collegial decision of its executive committee members to abandon Pacquiao and shift their support behind Domagoso.
“MP Nation is now IM4P or Isko Moreno For President Movement,” Enriquez said.
“We will always love and thank Senator Pacquiao for what he has done for the country, and would have wanted the two of them (Moreno and Pacquiao) to be in one ticket. But we must admit that the infighting of PDP-Laban has caused much damage and backlog to Senator Manny’s campaign,” he added.
MP Nation is composed of an army of coordinators in 78 provinces, 120 cities, 1,109 municipalities and more than 35,000 barangays.
Enriquez said more than 70 percent of their volunteer groups signified their commitment to go where MP Nation is going.
“Mayor Isko has already shown us the blueprint to bring the Philippines back on its feet with his fight against the pandemic as well as all the projects and programs he has undertaken in such a short span of time as mayor of Manila,” Enriquez said.
Pacquiao’s camp, for its part, described the volunteer group as an “impostor” and a “sham” that is only out to make money.
“Mr. Enriquez is an impostor who tried to wiggle himself into Senator Manny Pacquiao’s campaign team for money-making schemes but was immediately exposed and cut off upon discovery of his real motive,” Pacquiao’s campaign manager Buddy Zamora said.
“In the last meeting that he attended, he was severely castigated for his scheming ways and was ordered to stop representing the Senator. Senator Pacquiao is supported by hundreds of groups with far bigger memberships who are legitimate supporters of our cause,” Zamora added.
But for MP Nation’s spiritual adviser Bishop Sherween Eslava of the Evangelical Churches, a wrong choice of president in this very crucial period will affect the country more than just economically.
“The rags to riches story that both Pacquiao and Moreno share will ensure that we have both economic and moral recovery. Mayor Isko will be providing us that same hope that Senator Pacquiao would have given us,” Eslava said.