News Roundup 02 May 2022
May 02, 2022 • 5 min Read
Leni-Kiko tandem sets final push to woo Ilonggo votes on May 3 | INQUIRER.NET – The tandem of Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan would make their final campaign push to woo Ilonggo votes on Tuesday, six days before the May 9 elections. Robredo and Pangilinan would hold their grand rally at the public plaza of La Paz District in Iloilo City. The duo was expected to join their supporters at the rally dubbed “Grand Pasalamat” around 3 p.m. on May 3. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, who has openly declared support for Robredo and Pangilinan, has called on Ilonggos to join the rally. The tandem is also expected to greet supporters in a 21-kilometer stationary caravan from the airport to La Paz public plaza. “Let the color rose rain again in the city tomorrow,” Treñas said in a Facebook post, referring to the campaign color of Robredo. Robredo and Pangilinan last visited the city on February 25 when they joined about 40,000 supporters in a rally at the Iloilo Sports Complex. The rally set off bigger rallies in other provinces and cities. Robredo trounced rival Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Iloilo City and the province of Iloilo in the 2016 vice presidential race.
Leni Robredo, Kiko Pangilinan get endorsement of Baguio’s big 3 universities | INQUIRER.NET – Officials from Baguio City’s “Big Three” universities—University of Baguio, St. Louis University, and University of the Cordilleras—on Monday endorsed Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate Sen. Francis Pangilinan in historic defiance of the so-called Solid North vote and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Stressing that the upcoming election was “the fight of our collective lives,” St. Louis University president Fr. Gilbert Sales; University of the Cordilleras’ board chair Ray Dean Salvosa, and University of Baguio former president Virgilio Bautista formally endorsed the Leni-Kiko tandem during Monday’s Takder Kordi rally at the Melvin Jones Grandstand in the heart of Baguio City. With their endorsement, the three Baguio universities join the long list of educational institutions that have thrown their support behind the opposition tandem, widely seen as the “best chance” to thwart the Marcoses’ comeback to Malacañang. Their endorsement is especially remarkable as they are widely seen as leaders in the Cordilleran region, known to be a solid Marcos country. For the three officials, Robredo and Pangilinan also represent a brand of governance that is “God-fearing, honest and with genuine love for the country and for Filipinos,” Sales said. Salvosa noted that this was the first time in history that these universities “are shedding their neutrality and openly coming out for Robredo and her team.” “This is a moral crisis, this is a battle for the soul of our nation,” Salvosa said in a stirring speech. “You have seen in the polls that (her chief rival Ferdinand) Marcos Jr. is leading…This happened in part because of the failure of our education system, we did not see the power of social media.” He urged fellow Kakampinks to “go out of your circles and convince others who have been deceived by fake news.” Bautista, meanwhile, told the crowd of what their generation had gone through during the Marcoses’ 21-year rule, 14 of which were spent under the shadow of martial rule. Several human rights organizations estimate that around 3,257 were killed, while 35,000 were tortured and 70,000 were arrested during the brutal regime. “You won’t understand what we had suffered through because you now enjoy the gains of our hard-fought freedoms,” he said. “When we were young, we were repeatedly told: It’s bad to lie, it’s bad to steal. Why would we allow them to (take power?)” “Since you have already gone out of your way to be here, let us continue pushing onward,” he said. “This is the only way we can help Leni not for her, but for our nation and our future,” he said. “This is the fight of our lives.”
Pacquiao overtakes Isko in latest Pulse Asia survey | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Manny Pacquiao placed third in the latest Pulse Asia survey released Monday, overtaking Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso. In a survey published just one week before the May 9 polls, Pacquiao ranked third, with a voter support of 7%. The boxer-turned-politician gained one point from his rating in March. UP Political Science professor Jean Franco told Philstar.com that Pacquiao’s sincerity and consistency during the campaign could have contributed to this development. “The presscon of Isko also turned people off,” Franco added. The survey period from April 16 to 21 covered the Easter Sunday press conference at the Peninsula Manila Hotel, where the Manila mayor called on Vice President Leni Robredo to withdraw her candidacy as he criticized attempts to get other aspirants quit the high-stakes presidential race. Pacquiao was supposed to participate in the press conference also attended by Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and former Arroyo Cabinet member Norberto Gonzales, but he missed it due to flight delays. Some volunteer groups that backed Domagoso recently announced their support for Robredo.
1,399 new COVID-19 cases recorded from April 25 to May 1 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines registered 1,399 new COVID-19 cases and verified 215 deaths from April 25 to May 1, the Department of Health said Monday. The daily case average during that period was 200, which was 5% lower than a week The DOH has recorded more than 3.68 million COVID-19 infections since the pandemic started in 2020. There are currently 723 patients with severe or critical illness, which represent 13.4% of the country’s total COVID-19 admissions. Data from the health department showed that 16.1% of 2,830 intensive care unit beds nationwide have been used, while 16.3% of 24,521 non-ICU beds have been utilized. Of the 215 deaths verified during the past week, 40 occurred from April 18 to May 1.
