News Roundup 29 April 2022
Apr 29, 2022 • 6 min Read
Huge crowd greets Robredo in Quezon sortie; more endorsements from civil society groups | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo’s return to Quezon province earned her more endorsements from various civil society groups, while a huge crowd attended her grand rally in Lucena City on Thursday. At the provincial capital, some 80,000 supporters waited and cheered Robredo during the “Quezonduan” grand rally at the open grounds near the city hall. During the event, supporters raised their glasses to Robredo in the course of the Tagayan, a ritual sealing the “Quezonduan” between the presidential candidate and the people of Quezon. They also gave her several artworks and other tokens. Robredo in an earlier ambush interview explained that it is very important to tour Calabarzon and Quezon in particular as aside from being a vote-rich area, it is also a huge province geographically which means that several towns cannot be visited at once. “Mahalaga siya kasi mahirap siyang ikutan kasi sobrang laki. Ito lang Quezon, parang from the northernmost part to the southernmost part, sobrang layo kaya talagang kailangan natin siyang i-break. Pero masaya tayo na nakabalik tayo dito,” Robredo said. “In the next three days– in the next four days, IV-A tayo, Calabarzon tayo. Ngayon, nandito tayo sa Quezon, bukas sa Laguna, sunod sa Batangas, tapos sa Sunday ay sa Cavite tayo. Sobrang laki ng Quezon, sobrang laki din ng botante kaya napakahalaga niya,” she added. Before visiting Lucena, Robredo went to Gumaca and Guinayangan, where she also got a strong welcome from people in the area. This is the second time that Robredo went to Quezon province, after visiting the towns of Real, Infanta, and General Nakar last April 18. During her visit to Catanauan town early Thursday, Robredo’s hands were raised by town Mayor Ramon Orfanel, who urged Filipinos to refrain from falling prey to claims that the sins of the father could not be blamed on the son. According to Orfanel, the sins are forgiven only if the son asks for forgiveness — referring to Robredo’s rival, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., whose father and namesake had been blamed for human rights abuses in the country during the martial law era.
73 Tarlac priests declare support for Leni-Kiko tandem | INQUIRER.NET – At least 73 priests in the Diocese of Tarlac have endorsed presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo, and her running mate, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. In a manifesto of support issued on Friday (April 29), the priests said they came up with the decision after “earnest prayers and reflections.” “We should not restore to power the people who destroyed the nation’s freedom and democracy, those who trampled upon the human rights of thousands of our fellow Filipinos and those who killed and imprisoned those who fought the dictatorship,” the manifesto read. They urged Filipino voters to prevent those who were engaged in extra-judicial killings, were abusive in power, and stole public funds from staying in power or in any government position. “Before God—who is the way, the truth and life—we who serve the Church, your priests, after deep prayers and thought, have decided to stand firm and give guidance and example to the faithful and the people for them to stand up, too,” the manifesto said.
Following Kerwin’s recantation, Amnesty International renews call for De Lima’s release | PHILSTAR.COM – Amnesty International renewed its call to free detained Sen. Leila de Lima, whom they referred to as “prisoner of conscience,” after confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa retracted his allegations of giving money to the lawmaker. Amnesty International Philippines Section Director Butch Olano said Espinosa’s retraction “is veritable proof” that De Lima “is a victim of political persecution, targeted and singled out by the Duterte administration for her legitimate work as a human rights defender and duly-elected legislator.” “Following this retraction, the government must immediately and unconditionally release her and hold accountable those responsible for her unjust detention and the various human rights violations she has had to endure,” Olano added. This was after Espinosa, in a separate criminal rap he is facing at the Department of Justice, recanted his allegations against the senator who is accused of benefiting from the drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was justice secretary.
Expert: Some sectors not represented in poll surveys | PHILSTAR.COM – A former secretary-general of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said a more inclusive sampling of survey respondents may show different numbers on voter preference for candidates in the coming polls. Speaking with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News Wednesday night, statistician Romulo Virola said budget constraints limit survey firms in terms of getting sampling of respondents. For instance, in the case of Pulse Asia, he noted that some sample respondents were selected based on regional distribution “even if they know that age, for example, or educational attainment or socio-economic classifications matter in the choice of the voters.” “The budget limitation restricts the choices of the survey firm insofar as making adequate representation of every group that matters,” he said. “If the young voters matter in this year’s election, and they were underrepresented in the Pulse Asia sample, then that would make a big difference,” he added. Virola also noted the underrepresentation in the survey respondents of voters who reached college, noting that the results may be different if the more educated voters would tend to support a different candidate. He also cited the lack of respondents from A and B classes in the Pulse Asia surveys. “The question therefore is, ‘are those classes, A and B, big enough to impact on elections?’ Now if the election is not very close, it will probably not matter,” he said. Pulse Asia research director Ana Maria Tabunda explained that they did not deliberately exclude the two richest classes, noting that is more difficult to include them in the survey as they live in gated subdivisions or condominiums. The survey firm earlier said the two classes only represent a small segment of the population and would be insignificant in the overall results. Virola, however, noted a study on socio-economic classification in the Philippines, which showed that classes A and B represent nine percent of the population. “So that’s much bigger than the one to four percent of assessment of Pulse Asia. And if the, as I said, if the election is close, the nine-percent exclusion, although not intended, can make a lot of difference in the election final results,” he said. “If you sum up… (the) underrepresentation of the young in the sample, underrepresentation of the A and B and C classes, and underrepresentation of those who reached college, they can sum up to a huge number because we’re talking of only 2,500 (respondents),” he said.
