Sen. Manny Pacquiao. FILE PHOTO / JEOFFREY MAITEM
MANILA, Philippines — For presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao, there is no such thing as “Solid North” as he believes he has a lot of supporters in the Northern Luzon region.
The term “Solid North” refers to the supposedly strong or compact support of North Luzon, particularly the Ilocos Region, voters to the presidential bid of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“Hindi po ako naniniwala ng ganun kasi may mga, andami kong supporters dun sa Northern Luzon,” Pacquiao said.
(I don’t believe in such thing because I have a lot of supporters from Northern Luzon.)
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.
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