Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas has denounced calls for a boycott of restaurants and other business establishments supporting the presidential candidacy of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“As one of the supporters of [Vice President Leni Robredo] for president, there is no list of establishments that are supposed to be boycotted because they are supporting Bongbong Marcos,” Treñas said in a statement.
The mayor stressed that Iloilo City “has always been a place of inclusivity not only for different political orientations, sexual preferences or even food preferences.”
“Anyone should be able to do business in Iloilo City no matter who you support in the presidential or local elections,” he added.
According Treñas, beliefs on who the next president should be can be espoused in a gentler manner.
“Iloilo city is a place where you can openly espouse who your president is without any political retaliation from the community, unless you become overly obnoxious and undesirable; if you do, do not expect people to love you in return. VP Leni has nothing to do with your relationship in the community,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group supporting the presidential bid of Robredo clarified that they “never called to boycott any establishment in Iloilo.”
“Note that the screenshot item concerned was posted by a member and was deleted after the admin knew of it this clearly does not align with the policy of the group,” Iloilo Educators for Leni said in a statement.
“We have also contacted two of the affected individuals to explain to them the whole context of the unfortunate case,” it added.IMT
