News Roundup 08 May 2022
May 08, 2022 • 5 min Read
Makati ‘pink tsunami’ buoys Leni-Kiko hopes | INQUIRER.NET – A pink tsunami of close to 800,000 people swept through the country’s main financial district on Saturday at the end of a punishing 90-day campaign by the widow who defeated the son and namesake of the late ousted dictator for the vice presidency six years ago, and aiming to repeat the feat for the presidency in Monday’s elections. Up until the end, presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo’s supporters did not yield a single inch of their spaces of resistance to a return to Malacañang by the dictator’s son as they mounted their biggest show of force for the lone female presidential aspirant. By 8 p.m., organizers quoting police estimated 615,000 “kakampinks” had descended on the central business district of Makati City for Robredo’s “miting de avance,” occupying the stretch of Ayala Avenue, and its side roads. They later estimated that the crowd had peaked at 780,000, the biggest that the avenue had seen since yellow confetti rained down from the tall buildings on young urban professionals and members of the business community who massed in indignation against the assassination of Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983, three years before dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family were driven out of Malacañang by a popular revolt. Pink and green confetti showered down this time, the new colors of the opposition led by Robredo and her running mate, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan against their chief rivals, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. Their star-studded final campaign rally capped three months of barnstorming across all 17 regions of the country and 68 of 81 provinces. Robredo reminded her supporters of the need to prevent the return to power of the family that illegally amassed over $10 billion during its reign. “Let’s celebrate a historic campaign tonight. Let’s go! Let’s win this for the Filipino people!” Robredo said to deafening cheers. “Each one of you is [living] proof that not everybody was asleep while history was being written,” she said. Pangilinan praised their volunteers who braved the rains, searing heat, hunger and even harassment in organizing rallies and conducting house-to-house campaigns. He said most of them were students and young professionals, reminding him of his years as an activist and student leader at the University of the Philippines in the early 1980s. “We will vigorously oppose anyone who dares to rewrite history,” Pangilinan said. The Vice President said everyone must remain vigilant, and record and immediately report irregularities they see on Election Day. “Wear any color you want. Do not fear because there are so many of us,” she said.While Robredo remains second place to Marcos Jr. in the surveys, her supporters are hoping for a big upset on May 9. One of Robredo’s most influential endorsers, Vice Ganda, made a final speech to rally votes for the Vice President. “So many Filipinos work to the bone and fight fair but we suffer because but we are being cheated, treated like idiots and dumbed-down so these people can enrich themselves,” he said of traditional politicians. “On Monday let us all express our indignation.” Actress Anne Curtis and 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Gray made a surprise appearance on the stage set up at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue. Robredo “is not a leader that comes ever so often,” Gray told the crowd in a stirring speech. “She is a once-a-generation type that can bear change. See how VP Leni has inspired us to come out of our homes to take part in uncomfortable conversations and polarizing situations.” “You have not just campaigned, you have educated and you have helped,” she added. “Politics can change our lives but we have the power to change the government.” Curtis told the “madlang people” that she believed that Robredo can lead the country the way a mother raises a child. She urged Filipinos to pray for a clean and honest elections as well as “healing for hurt relationships among friends and families.” If the Robredo-Pangilinan supporters were experiencing election anxiety, it certainly did not show in their loud cheers for them and their senatorial candidates. Many, including first time voters, camped out on Ayala as early Friday night to make sure they had the best spots for Saturday’s rally.
Comelec sees high voter turnout in Negros Occidental | INQUIRER.NET – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is expecting a higher turnout of voters on election day, May 9 compared to the 2019 midterm elections. Acting Negros Occidental Provincial Elections Supervisor Roberto Salazar said on Sunday, May 8, more voters would cast their votes because of the heated national campaigns. Negros Occidental, which has 1,946, 639 registered voters, is the sixth highest voting area in the country. Salazar said they are all set for Monday’s polls and have already replaced 17 defective vote counting machines (VCMs). Among the defects of the 17 VCMs were failure to scan, ballot jams, misreading of ballots, and damaged printers. The defective VCMs that were sent to the nearest Regional VCM Repair Hub in Cebu City were expected to arrive back in Negros Occidental late Sunday, Salazar said. Negros Occidental has 50 contingency VCMs while Bacolod City has two in case of any breakdown on election day. Salazar said security requirements for the voting centers have been deployed. Quick Reaction Teams of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines are also in place, he said.
Oil firms seen to hike prices by P4/liter | PHILSTAR.COM – Massive pump price increases are set on Tuesday as global prices skyrocket on the European Union’s impending ban on Russian oil. In its forecast, Unioil Philippines said diesel would increase by P3.90 to P4 per liter and gasoline by P4 to P4.20 per liter. The price hike snaps the two successive weeks of price reductions. This would further push up prices, which have already surged by P17.80 per liter for gasoline, P30.30 per liter for diesel and P23.90 per liter for kerosene since the start of the year. Global prices started to surge last Wednesday after the European Union proposed to phase out imports of Russian oil by end of the year, Reuters reported.
