Press Release
April 24, 2022

UNIDO reemerges as regional political entity, backs BBM-Sara

MANILA - A once powerful political entity that dominated Philippine politics during the 1980s is making a comeback in this year's national elections.

The United Nationalist Democratic Organization or more popularly known as UNIDO on Saturday formally reemerged as a regional political entity based in the Southern Tagalog Region, 15 days before the May 9 polls.

Senator Francis 'Tol' N. Tolentino, one of UNIDO's honorary trustees said the party's revival is an answer to call of unity--the main advocacy of UniTeam President bet former Senator Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and his running mate, incumbent Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte.

"Isinusulong po natin ang muling pagkabuhay ng UNIDO dahil naniniwala tayo sa ganung tema ng pagkakaisa... pagkatapos po ng halalan na ito, sa Calabarzon, sa Southern Tagalog mayroon pong UNIDO and UNIDO will be part of the political mainstream, helping the next administration. Hopefully (its) BBM-Sara," said Tolentino.

Tolentino who chairs the Committee on Local Government in the Senate stressed that the younger Marcos and Duterte vast experiences in running their own localities--being governor of Ilocos Norte and mayor of Davao City respectively--will be the key for the country's economic recovery which was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years.

"Mayroon tayong dalawang national candidates na local government officials. Former governor of Ilocos Norte, BBM (and) the incumbent mayor of Davao City, Inday Sara. Ano pa ba ang hahanapin natin diyan? Nagka tugma-tugma na po ang sinusulong muling lapian doon naman sa layunin ni BBM at ni Sara," said Tolentino.

The poll body last year accredited UNIDO as a regional political entity and the party has fielded candidates in the local and provincial levels respectively in the vote-rich Region 4-A--the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (CALABARZON).

As of 2019, the entire CALABARZON reportedly has 8,674,351 voters.

Senatorial bets Robin Padilla, Gilbert Teodoro, and re-electionist Sen. Joel Villanueva personally graced the event staged by UNIDO that was held in Manila Yacht Club and thanked the party leadership for its unwavering support to their respective candidacies.

In the same event, UNIDO also endorsed the bid of party-list Agimat which was represented by Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado-Revilla, on behalf of his son Bryan who is the group's first nominee.

UNIDO interim president Jose Laurel IV, nephew of the party's founding chairman--the late former Vice President Salvador 'Doy' Laurel--said the entire Laurel clan only hopes that all those running and being endorsed by UNIDO will serve the country with complete integrity and dedication.

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