Pepero-Kiyu team kicks off campaign

Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan and Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez kicked off yesterday their bid to win the Republican nomination for next year’s gubernatorial elections with vows to work harder in order to woo strong support in the community.

Their campaign committee placed crowd at a “get together” party held at Civic Center in Susupe at over 2,000 composed of their relatives, friends and supporters who included representatives from Rota and Tinian.

Amid chants of “Biba, Pepero-Kiyu,” the two political veterans pledged in their speech to campaign hard in the next few months ahead of the GOP primary, which is expected to be held late this year or early 2001.

Their team faces in the primary Resident Representative to Washington Juan N. Babauta and Rep. Diego T. Benavente who last month held a fund-raiser to kick off their campaign.
Both camps have expressed confidence of becoming the official Republican candidates, with still more than 16 months to go before the November 2001 polls.

“I appreciate the strong support shown [yesterday],” said Mr. Villagomez in an interview. “Having this kind of turnout really helps. We have been getting a lot of support from the community. . . We’ve still got a lot of work to win more support.”

Noting their campaign has just begun, he said that he and Mr. Sablan will continue to go and reach out for support from other voters on the three main islands.

The “get together” marked the official entry of the Pepero-Kiyu team to the GOP ballots and their first joint campaign since Mr. Sablan announced his candidacy in another full-packed event at the Joeten compound last February.

Edward S. Tenorio, chair of his campaign committee, said the crowd at the Civic Center exceeded their expectation, although they hope to win other voters to their side.

“It is a strong team,” he said in an interview, “and we will continue to build their team.”

The next step for their election bid is a series of pocket meetings in villages around the island where they hope to spell out Mr. Sablan’s platform, he said.

Former Rep. Melvin O. Faisao, who is vice chair of the committee, believed the “heavy” turnout of supporters at the kick-off campaign would lead to more support from the community.
“This would have a ripple effect that would finally convince voters that we are the team to beat,” he said.

Aside from the two GOP hopefuls, both former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio and his Lt. Gov. Jesus C. Borja have separately announced intention to seek the highest elected office in the CNMI.