Lito Banayo Apologizes for opening “Old wounds”

Campaign manager for Isko Moreno, Lito Banayo, remarked last January 31st that appeared to anger Senator Grace Poe. Banayo reported having said that the “gaffe” was an aside about Poe’s late father and his non-participation in debates when he ran for president in 2004.

Banayo’s statements came in a press conference when he was asked about how Elections Commissioner, Rowena Guanzon’s vote to disqualify Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from the presidential race would affect Moreno’s candidacy.

The campaign strategist explained that Moreno and his running mate, Dr. Willie Ong, had decided on their bids without considering who their rivals would be. He then stated that the party was more concerned with what they wished to do in the campaign rather than who else was running.

It was then that Banayo stated that presidential debates are an important “turning point” for how candidates fare in surveys. This is where he brought up the subject of Fernando Poe Jr.

[In Tagalog] “FPJ had a wide lead over incumbent president GMA at the time, but maybe because FPJ did not attend debates and interviews, it may have had an effect, that’s why the race got tighter at the end of the day,” said Banayo.

Senator Poe responded by stating:

“For a campaign strategist as seasoned as Lito, I’m surprised he would largely attribute the results of the 2004 elections to a single aspect of the campaign. It’s almost as if he forgot about the ‘hello Garci scandal’ and other election-related issues of the past.”

However, Grace Poe does not deny that her father missed out on several debates and interviews. “While I don’t discount the merits of a debate, I also don’t believe that the 2004 debates alone influenced the majority of the public to shift their preference and support. I still believe that the Filipino people know their votes for FPJ were stolen,” she said.

Following his statements, Banayo sent an apology to Poe via Rappler where he said “I apologize for that gaffe. I was juxtaposing the refusal to debate of one candidate in the past to a present candidate as one possible reason for ratings to go down.”

“I failed to take up the Hello Garci scandal that followed, and was referring only to the ratings of GMA and FPJ narrowing as the election neared,” he said, adding that he did not dispute that “manipulation happened” in the 2004 elections.

“I was part of the TWG (technical working group) that assisted the legislators during the impeachment case filed against GMA,” he said, for good measure.

Banayo then concluded his apology by recognizing his misconduct by inadvertently opening up “old wounds.”

Source: Rappler