DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 March) — An association of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Davao City has thrown its support to the candidacy of presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte. PWD group in Davao to support Duterte.
In a gathering at the Rizal Park here Monday, Naprey Almario, president of the Association of Differently-Abled Persons (ADAP) said Duterte has helped the PWD community through programs and ordinances.
He said the mayor provided the PWD members with a ADAP Village located along Km. 15 in Indangan, Buhangin, where some 50 families live and earn from making armchairs for public and private schools in Davao Region.
In 2012, he said, Duterte approved Ordinance No. 0417-12, also known as Anti-Discrimination Ordinance.
He said the ADAP was established in 1993 to attend to the needs of people with special needs.
Almario, who was elected ADAP president about three weeks ago, said he knew of PWD friends who transferred residency to the city because of its PWD-friendly programs.
“The ADAP was also provided with an office at the Sangguniang Panlungsod building where members of our PWD community go to for concerns,” he said.
Duterte was mayor from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, and elected again in 2013 as mayor with Son Paolo as vice mayor. He was also elected as representative of the first district from 1998 to 2001 and served as vice mayor to his daughter-mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio from 2010 to 2013.
Duterte, standard-bearer of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, ranked 4th in the survey conducted this month by the Social Weather Stations with 21 points, down by three points from his ratings in February.
Senator Grace Poe’s ranking increased by three percentage points from 24 in February to 27 in March, followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with 24 from last month’s 29, Manuel Roxas II with 22 from 18, and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago with 4.
In a statement Monday, Duterte’s campaign manager Mayor Leoncio Evasco of Maribojoc, Bohol said: “We take survey results seriously and we have seen several, including mock polls and social media trending, reinforcing the observation that Duterte is gaining more believers, adherents and converts,” Evasco said.
Despite Duterte’s ranking in surveys, he counted on the reception of the public on the ground, which he said was encouraging.
“This has become more apparent the last couple of weeks as Mayor Duterte and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano covered more grounds than anybody in the campaign trail,” he said.
He added the Duterte camp will reach out to more supporters and encourage them to “mobilize and volunteer for the victory of Duterte and his running mate”. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
