The Black and White Movement on Monday advised voters not to vote for boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, former congressman Romeo Jalosjos and former poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in the May elections.
Former social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman said members of the movement have started a “campaign” to convince voters not to support the candidacies of the four alleged candidates.
She said the fielding of the four candidates could also be a ploy of the administration to discourage voters from participating in the May 14 polls.
“I think this is part of a media spin or campaign to muddle up the elections so that people will lose interest in the elections,” she said.
Pacquiao has expressed interest in running for the South Cotabato congressional seat while Garcillano is reportedly eyeing the Bukidnon 1st District seat.
Palparan, tagged as “the butcher” by left-wing militants, said he is considering running for Congress under the party-list system.
Opposition congressmen Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros (Akbayan) and Teodoro Casi?o (Bayan Muna), however, vowed to block Palprana’s candidacy.
“The butcher that he is, we expect him to literally wipe out his contenders. He will only bring warlordism and political violence in the contest,” said Hontiveros.
Soliman earlier revealed that the movement is preparing a blacklist of politicians that people should not vote for in the mid-term polls.
She said the movement, which is composed of civil society groups and militant groups, has formulated a criteria for choosing candidates, particularly congressmen, for the May polls.
“Our criteria for candidates is their readiness to stand for truth and hold those in public office accountable for their wrongdoings,” she said.
Those who do not make it to the criteria, Soliman said, will be included in the blacklist.
