Heavy rain cancels Marcos rally in Parañaque

Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. (FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — The Parañaque rally of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte was canceled early evening on Saturday due to heavy rain in the area.

Marcos’ campaign manager Benhur Abalos Jr. said the team decided not to push through with the event at the open grounds of the Aseana City because the weather was bad and they wanted to keep people safe.

“That’s nature. We cannot do anything about that. What is paramount is the safety of those who are there,” Abalos said in a phone interview, adding that they were expecting some 50,000 people to attend the grand rally.

It will try to reschedule the event, he said.

“We’ll try our best. We have to cover as much ground as we can, but I’m sure with what happened, we will return,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Marcos held a caravan around the city and met with Parañaque officials with whom he discussed his proposal to lengthen barangay officials’ term to five years so that they would have more time to implement projects for their community.

But he said barangay officials should also be subject to a three-term limit.

He said he has been hearing requests to extend the term of the village officials and postpone the elections, but he instead favored amending the law so that they could serve a five-year term for up to three terms.

A longer term would allow the barangay officials to carry out the projects they want to the end, he said.

“Let’s do this so that the barangay officials could continue the initiatives that they want to do. In five years, or 10 years if they win again, they could show their competence and provide assistance to their barangays,” he said.

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