One of the most prominent personality who donated for Mayor Rody Duterte during the campaign period Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. revealed the main reasons why he decided to support the Davao City Mayor and became its biggest donor during the successful May 2016 presidential run of the first and only winning president from Mindanao.
According to Floirendo, it was his “brotherly love” for President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that prompted him to support the candidacy of the Davao City Mayor who was very reluctant to run for President during the earlier days of the election period but finally decided to try his luck in the national political scene due to the huge support he got from thousands if not millions of volunteers across the country.
The Davao del Norte Rep. Tonyboy Floirendo is the son of Mindanao’s richest banana magnate Antonio Floirendo Sr., he is considered as the one who made the biggest donation to the presidential campaign of the incoming president Rody Duterte by giving away funds worth P75 million to support the campaign of Duterte who changed the perception of every voter by running without vote buying.
Based upon the campaign expenses of Pres. Rody Duterte which was submitted to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Campaign Finance Office, it showed that Floirendo donated P25 million in March and P50 million in April.
“This was also the reason why I had to back out of my support for VP (Vice President) Jejomar Binay which the good outgoing vice president understood well,” he added. Binay ran for president and ended in fourth place.