MISAMIS Oriental candidate for governor and 2nd District Representative Juliette Uy along with nearly a dozen incumbent town mayors and other candidates have openly declared their support for the presidential bid of Vice President Ma. Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo and vice presidential bet Davao Mayor Sara Duterte yesterday afternoon.

Uy is the second candidate of Misamis Oriental’s candidate for governor who committed to campaign for Robredo.

The first was Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno who, like Uy, launched his campaign for governorship last Friday, a seat he held for nine years before he was elected as city mayor in 2013.

Uy, a member of the National Union Party was joined by her husband, Julio Uy, a former vice governor of Misamis Oriental and is now running for congressman in the second district.

They were joined by Uy’s daughter, Villanueva town Mayor Jennie Uy-Mendez, who is seeking reelection, and 11 incumbent local executives and 1st District congressional candidate Karen Lagbas.

“Finally we can declare what we wanted to say all along, that we are behind Vice President Leni Robredo,” Lagbas said.

“It was easy to (choose) Robredo among other presidential candidates. She is a long-time friend,” Representative Uy said.

Uy said she had told her party, NUP, that she and the family-led Hugpong Panaghiusa (Team Unity) would declare their support for Robredo.

“I did not defy the NUP because the party never (endorsed) Bongbong Marcos Jr.,” she said.

Uy, the NUP chair for Northern Mindanao said what happened was that Marcos Jr., went to the NUP meeting in Manila on March 22 and was photographed with its members.

“The next time we knew, there was a news release that the NUP declared its support to Marcos. It (is) not true,” Uy said.

Uy said the NUP leadership allowed their members including her and her group in the provinces to choose their top bets.

Two days after the NUP endorsed Marcos jr., its party president, Rep. Elpidio Barzaga went against his own party and threw her support for Robredo on March 26.

Uy said she won’t be happy supporting another presidential candidate other than Robredo.

“I know her. We traveled together. We shared one room. She is a simple and virtuous woman and hard-working,” She said.

Uy said in the coming days, more political leaders especially women in the NUP will come out and declare their support to Robredo.