By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
Popular Democratic Party (PDP) at-large Rep. Héctor Ferrer Santiago, through a video posted on social networks, confirmed his endorsement of Jesús Manuel Ortiz González for the party presidency over the weekend, recalling the words of his late father, Héctor Ferrer Ríos, when he delegated the reorganization of the PDP in Arecibo to Ortiz González in 2019.
“I see in Jesús Manuel Ortiz the same qualities that my father saw when he selected him to reorganize his most important project in 2020, Arecibo,” Ferrer Santiago said. “Jesús Manuel did it in Arecibo and he will do it throughout Puerto Rico.”
The election to choose the PDP’s next president is slated for this coming Sunday, May 7.
The video also includes an emotional message from Ferrer Ríos in 2019 referring to the work that Ortiz González was doing to reorganize the PDP in Arecibo.
“I wanted one of my best players … one of the best resources that our party has to accomplish the work we have to do here in Arecibo, and Jesús Manuel has been practically perfect in the process of how he has carried it out,” Ferrer Ríos said at the time.
It should be noted that Arecibo went from being a town in which the PDP lost by 18,301 votes in 2016 to a municipality that managed to win by 8,952 votes in 2020.
“If there’s one thing I learned from my father, it’s that the Popular party recognizes hard work and discipline,” Ferrer Santiago wrote in his social networks. “Jesús Manuel did it in Arecibo and he will do it in Puerto Rico.”
On Sunday, meanwhile, former PDP electoral commissioner Miguel Ríos Torres said Sunday’s voting “is for all bonafide populares to participate in.”
“I make this clarification because we have had information that some people mistakenly believe that Sunday’s event is for delegates,” Ríos Torres said. “That was the case in the last meeting in Trujillo Alto. This coming Sunday the 7th, all the Popular [members] are invited to participate.”
Ríos Torres, who is recognized in the PDP as one of the officials with the most experience in island electoral issues, currently serves as general electoral coordinator in the party presidential campaign of Morovis Mayor Carmen Maldonado González.
“I endorse her and I have been part of the campaign group from day one because I know her personally, professionally and politically,” he said. “Her Popular Evolution proposal consists of five fundamental points that are detailed on her Carmen Maldonado González page” in Facebook, he noted, adding that the page also contains information on polling stations “in all 114 voting centers throughout Puerto Rico.”
The school-based polling stations will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., where the process is as follows: the voter registers at the entrance, presents his or her photo identification, such as a voter card, driver’s license or passport, and receives a single ballot with three candidates. After making his or her choice, the voter then deposits the ballot in the ballot box.
“We urge [PDP] members to go early to vote,” Ríos Torres said. “We hope that by the end of the afternoon, we will have the final numbers and the official information will be transmitted from PDP headquarters in Puerta de Tierra. My call to all the populares is that this week call your family and friends to come and be part of the democratic process. All populares must participate in this event.”