News Roundup 07 May 2022
May 07, 2022 • 5 min Read
‘Kakampinks’ in show of force for Robredo in Bicol, NCR as polls near | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential bid drew the expected overwhelming support from the Bicol region on Friday, the homestretch of the campaign period and a few days before the 2022 national elections on Monday. Local organizers said 40,000 people assembled along Sorsogon City’s Magsaysay Street during a grand rally, highlighted by senatorial candidate and Governor Francis Escudero’s assurance that the Bicol region would be there for its most-celebrated daughter. Robredo later made her way to Legazpi City in Albay, where she was welcomed by an estimated crowd of over 100,000. Later in the day in her home city of Naga, rally organizers said over 306,000 individuals trooped to Magsaysay Avenue and its adjacent streets for Robredo’s “miting de avance.” The event was graced by showbiz celebrities, including Ogie Diaz, Jolina Magdangal, Agot Isidro, Nikki Valdez, Piolo Pascual, and “Megastar” Sharon Cuneta, wife of Robredo’s running mate, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. Speaking in Bicolano, Robredo gave a lengthy speech which detailed how she spent her life in Naga City back when her husband, Jesse Robredo was still mayor, how she entered politics after his death, and the counter-arguments to allegations that she cheated in the 2016 vice presidential race. “Nagpapasalamat po ako na kahit mahirap ang laban na ito, andiyan kayo sa tabi ko, kasama ko kayo sa laban. Kaya maraming salamat sa inyo. Marami tayong pinagdaanang hamon,” Robredo said. “Kilala ninyo ako, alam ninyo kung anong klaseng pamamahala ang aking isinusulong. Alam ninyo kung anong klase pulitika ang aking pinaniniwalaan. Pag nagsabi akong ayoko sa korapsyon, alam ninyong ni minsan hindi nadawit ang pangalan ko sa anumang anomalya,” she added. Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion and Camarines Sur gubernatorial candidate Rolando Andaya also vowed to support Robredo’s candidacy. The Naga City rally is the last campaign activity of Robredo in the Bicol region. On Saturday, she will be in parts of Central Luzon and will cap her campaign with another “miting de avance” in Makati City’s Central Business District in Ayala Avenue.
Robredo ends campaign run at historic financial district with thousands in attendance | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo, her running mate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, and their senatorial slate have ended the 90-day campaign period at the country’s historic financial center in the company of thousands of their supporters. Their miting de avance in Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue in Makati City came just a day after they toured Robredo’s bailiwick, the Bicol region, as they did to kick off the campaign. The site has been the place of many pivotal moments in the country’s political history, some of them associated with key figures of the Liberal Party, which Robredo still chairs even if she ran as an independent presidential candidate. Three years before the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was kicked out of Malacañang through the People Power Revolution, thousands of office workers walked out mid-afternoon to protest opposition leader Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.’s assassination on the tarmac of the airport that is now named after him. Yellow confetti rained down on the funeral procession of Aquino Jr.’s wife, former President Cory Aquino, when it passed by Ayala Avenue in 2009 in a scene that echoed images of the People Power Revolution that installed her into power. A year after that, Filipinos would vote for her son, Benigno Aquino III, as president. Powered by her ‘Kakampinks’, Robredo has mounted shows of force in various spots in the country throughout the campaign season where hundreds of thousands flocked to her rallies and endured heat, rain, hunger and thirst just to show their support for her. Despite drawing mammoth crowds at rallies, Robredo still placed far second in pre-election surveys by private pollsters next to her archrival, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. But even with this, Robredo told reporters in Sorsogon City on Friday that she is not nervous and even called on her anxious supporters to be confident. “Magtiwala lang kasi hindi lang naman ako noong nagsipag, sila din. Hindi lang naman ako iyong ginawa iyong lahat pero sila din. Iyong lesson naman natin sa buhay, basta lalaban tayo to the best of our ability pero sa tamang paraan,” she said. (Just be confident because I am not the only one who was diligent, but them as well. I wasn’t the only one who gave my all, but them as well. The lesson in our life is that we will just fight to the best of our ability but in the right way.) “Diyos na iyong bahala pagkatapos (It’s all up to God in the end.)”
Robredo’s Senate bets give thanks, plans moving forward in last pitches | PHILSTAR.COM – Senatorial candidates of Vice President Leni Robredo made their last pitches for their respective electoral bids, took time to give thanks and advise the public on how to move forward to ensure victory for their slate. Former Rep. Teddy Baguilat (Ifugao) gave thanks to Robredo and her running mate, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, for including an Indigenous person like him in their lineup, saying that if he wins in the elections he would be the first IP to be to clinch a seat in the Senate. Free Legal Assistance Group chairperson Chel Diokno and Federation of Free Workers president Sonny Matula also thanked volunteers for giving their all in the largely people-led campaign in support of Robredo’s presidential bid. Sens. Leila de Lima and Dick Gordon, meanwhile, made appeals for them to get reelected to the upper chamber despite the vicious attacks that have been lobbed against them by President Rodrigo Duterte. On the other hand, lawyer Alex Lacson used his allotted time to address the crowd to campaign for Robredo and Pangilinan instead of himself. Sen. Risa Hontiveros and former Sen. Sonny Trillanes gave their respective suggestions on how to move forward to ensure their entire slate’s victory in the elections. “Lampas pa sa Lunes ay ipagpoatukoy pa natin itong ating paguusap-usap. Ipagpapatukoy natin ang ating pagkilos sa ating mga kabbaayan. Ipagpapatuloy natin ang ating pagbabayanihan,” Hontiveros said. Trillanes, meanwhile, called for Kakampinks to speak to people who are not yet decided on who to vote for, saying that they would be key for Robredo to clinch victory. To end, the former Navy officer quoted the Bible: “We have fought a good fight. We have finished the race. And we have kept the faith.”
