Close to thousand cars join GOP motorcade

Hundreds of cars beeped and honked for four hours yesterday during the island-wide political motorcade of the ruling Republican Party.

Party supporters estimated the number of cars in the motorcade at a minimum of 600 to a high of 900.

Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente said he would give a conservative number of 600 cars.

“Still, this is a huge turnout considering the price of fuel. We are very pleased with the people’s show of support,” said Benavente.

The motorcade, led by GOP standard-bearer Gov. Juan N. Babauta and Lt. Gov. Benavente, started at 10am at the Minachom Atdao Pavilion and Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium area, heading south to San Antonio, Koblerville, Dandan, and San Vicente.

“The line of cars is quite long. The start of the line was already going up to Kagman, and the end line was still in Susupe,” said a GOP supporter.

Using the back road, the GOP team drove all the way to Kagman, then to Capitol Hill, and down to Tanapag and San Roque area.

From there, they headed to Garapan and back to the assembly area at Kilili Beach in Susupe.

The entire group finished the motorcade at about 2:30pm.

Food and entertainment awaited the crowd, estimated to be over a thousand, at the beachside.

Re-election candidate Ray Tebuteb described the motorcade result as “overwhelming as expected.”

“It’s huge. You can see the people’s choice right there,” he said.

GOP supporter Pat Santos said the support “tells you that it’s going to be another landslide.”

Saipan resident Ed Peter gave a fearless prediction that the BB ticket “will win by over 2,000,” or double than the 2001 gubernatorial election.

“If they [rivals] saw the crowd in the motorcade, they might think twice and reconsider,” he said, smiling.

“I am very confident that we will win. If not 100 percent, then 99.9 percent,” said Jacinto Taman of Koblerville.

GOP endorses the reelection bid of Gov. Babauta and Lt. Gov. Benavente as well as Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio.

For Senate seats for Saipan, the party endorses the candidacy of former congressman and Commerce Secretary Andrew Salas and Thomas “Kiyu” P. Villagomez.

GOP supports the candidacy of the following candidates: Reps. Benjamin B. Seman, Joseph Deleon Guerrero, and Martin Ada, Edward T. Salas, former congressman Manuel A. Tenorio, and Rep. Janet U. Maratita (Precinct I); Eric B. Atalig for Precinct 2; Reps. Arnold I. Palacios and Ramon Tebuteb, Francisco I. Aquino, David Sablan, and Carmen Cabrera (Precinct 3); and Enrique Dela Cruz and Candido Taman (Precinct 4).

The party supports James A. Ada for mayor of Saipan, David Peter for the Northern Island mayoralty post, Vicente M. Atalig for Rota mayor, and Joaquin Adriano for Tinian mayor.

For the Tinian Senate, GOP supports Ray Dela Cruz and Jude Hofschneider.

For Rota Senate, GOP endorses the re-election of Senators Paterno S. Hocog and Diego M. Songao.

This year’s general elections, which will be held on Nov. 5, is a four-way gubernatorial race among the BB ticket, Covenant Party’s Benigno R. Fitial and Timothy P. Villagomez, Democratic Party’s Froilan C. Tenorio and Antonio Santos, and independent Heinz S. Hofschneider and David Apatang.

Each party claims a huge following and electoral victory in this year’s election. There are some 15,000 registered voters in the CNMI. (Liberty Dones)