With less than three weeks left before the elections, Senator Win Gatchalian said the endorsement from the country’s provincial executives will provide a big boost in his re-election bid.
“I am deeply humbled and extremely honored and grateful for the support of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP). This endorsement coming from the ranks of my fellow public servants will serve as an inspiration in pursuing needed reforms to bring about inclusive growth and in further strengthening local government units. Rest assured that once re-elected, there will be no letup in pushing for genuine reforms especially in the education and energy sectors,” he said upon receiving a copy of the letter of Marinduque Governor Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., LPP national president, to all members.
Velasco urged the League’s 81 governor-members to back the candidacy of Gatchalian and five other senatorial candidates whom they have chosen to support in the coming May 9 national and local poll exercise.
“As LPP national president, I urge you to consider supporting our League’s ‘common’ candidates for the Senate based on our survey. I hope that you can also consider including them in your list of senatorial candidates whom you will be supporting this May 9, 2022 national and local elections,” Velasco said in his letter to the governors dated April 4.
LPP is the latest to throw support to the candidacy of Gatchalian who is up for another six-year term in the upper chamber.
The group’s endorsement was based on the results of a survey conducted by the LPP among its ranks in December last year and released this month.
“We need more allies in the 19th Congress to help the League push for vital policies that would advance our legislative agenda and protect the gains we have achieved in promoting a genuine fiscal and local autonomy of all local government units, particularly to help secure our rightful share in the national taxes,” Velasco added.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Gatchalian pressed the national government to grant additional Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) shares to LGUs that were under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), which imposed the strictest lockdown measures, to ensure unhampered delivery of basic needs to the public.