FILE PHOTO: Presidential candidate Panfilo Lacson and vice presidential candidate Vicente Sotto III. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Is the “Solid North” for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. a myth? Presidential candidate Panfilo Lacson and vice-presidential candidate Vicente Sotto III think so.
This is because the Lacson-Sotto tandem said they received a warm welcome in Ilocos Region and Baguio City as they brought their campaign to Northern Luzon.
The term “Solid North” refers to the supposedly strong or compact support of North Luzon voters to the presidential bid of the Marcos scion.
Lacson and Sotto said in a statement on Monday that they personally felt that “Solid North” was not true because they received a warm reception in Ilocos Region and Baguio City.
According to Lacson, they thought local people would reject other candidates but tricycle drivers whom he spoke to were open to listening to other teams than Marcos Jr’s.
“As you may be aware, ‘di ba ‘yung basta Ilocos Region, mostly, taga-region nila ‘yung tinatangkilik pero sa nakita namin kanina, maganda ‘yung response kasi nga issue-based naman ‘yung tinalakay namin na mga problema,” the veteran senator and former national police chief said after a talk with more than 400 members of a tricycle drivers and operators’ group in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.
“Gustong i-test ‘yung members ng TODA kasi nasabi ko kanina pagka Ilocano speaking, may leanings na kung kaninong kandidato. So gustong i-test kung ano ang magigng reaction. And surprisingly, we got the reaction that we are not expecting actually—very positive,” he added.
Ilocos Region and other Ilocano-speaking provinces and neighboring Cagayan Valley were long thought to be the bailiwick of the Marcoses, as the influential family hails from Batac in Ilocos Norte.
The 2016 national elections, when Marcos Jr. ran for vice president, provided an insight into the so-called Solid North vote: Marcos Jr., despite losing to eventual winner Vice President Leni Robredo, won by over 1.4 million in the region.
The same thing happened at the Cordillera Administrative Region, where Marcos Jr. was ahead of Robredo by around 330,000 votes. In Cagayan Valley, Robredo only won in Batanes but lost to Marcos Jr. by 860,000 votes.
READ: Marcos overtakes Robredo as ‘Solid North’ votes canvassed
READ: Robredo finds Marcos country ‘cold’
INQUIRER.net has reached out to the camp of Marcos Jr. about Lacson’s remark but they have not issued a reply as of posting time.
Sotto, on the other hand, told tricycle drivers and operators that if he and Lacson are elected, they would work to address concerns of the transportation sector, especially with the rising oil prices.
“Kaya eh, kung wala ba ‘yung P700 bilyon na ninanakaw, sa bulsa lang ng kung sino-sino napupunta, kayang-kaya ‘yung fuel subsidy… Kahit tumaas pa ang halaga (ng gasolina), hindi kailangan magtaas ng pasahe ang mga public transport kung sina-subsidize ng gobyerno ‘yung fuel,” Sotto said.
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