Senior actress and Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) director-general Vivian Velez spearheaded the launch of a broad coalition of supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte called ISAng Pilipinas along with film producer Edith Fider who released the recent biopic of Isko Moreno.
Held at Club Filipino, San Juan City on March 9, the group formally threw its support for presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Moreno and vice presidential bet and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte as an unofficial ticket in the May elections.
Talking to the press, the actress said that ISAng Pilipinas is a private initiative and neither endorsed by the president nor by Moreno and Duterte. She also clarified that they did not ask Moreno and Duterte’s permission in launching this “private initiative.”
“Our choice to support them was a result of a long vetting process of presidential and vice presidential candidates. It’s our choice to pick who we want. With due respect to their tandem, we all know it’s a political choice … As supporters, we have freedom of choice and we have to take advantage of that,” Velez said.
“Although he (Duterte) is neutral, we went through the process of elimination. He is definitely not endorsing BBM or Bongbong Marcos, so he is not supporting him. He is also not supporting Leni Robredo. As we go through that process of elimination, it is a no-brainer for us to choose Isko because we think he is the best candidate for president,” the actress explained.
She further added that their group hoped to convince voters to pick the two youngest candidates belonging to different parties as their next leaders.
“Both of them are mayors. I believe in the theory that the pragmatic approach to deal with crisis and uncertainty, it would be mayors. That I think would be the best solution to solve our problem. The mayors are the best people to run this country,” she said.