With only one day remaining in the local campaign, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) revealed on May 6, that it had withdrawn its support for incumbent Mayor Evelio Leonardia of Bacolod City in favor of businessman Afredo “Albee” Benitez.
While the INC has endorsed Benitez for mayor, they have not recognized his ally, vice mayoral candidate Atty. Caesar Distrito. Instead, they retain their support to incumbent Vice Mayor Elcid Familiaran. They also backed incumbent Rep. Greg Gasataya.
It was not disclosed why the INC block lost their support for Leonardia, despite the fact that in the 2019 local election, they backed Leonardia’s party, Grupo Progreso.
The group has also endorsed mixed candidates for the city council, but the majority still under Grupo Progreso. This includes: Em Ang; Archie Baribar’ Simple Distrito; Carl Lopez; Renecito Novero; Bart Orola; Kalaw Puentevella; Dindo Ramos; Cindy Rojas; Israel Salanga; Thaddy Sayson and Jason Villarosa.
