Actor Donny Pangilinan is mobbed by residents of Barangay Tinago, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental once they recognized him after conducting a house-to-house campaign for his presidential candidate, Vice President Leni Robredo, and his uncle, vice presidential candidate Sen. Francis Pangilinan. (Photo by KARLOW BRIER / Inquirer Visayas)
DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines — Residents of a coastal village here received a pleasant surprise on April 1.
Actor Donny Pangilinan knocked on their doors to hand out campaign materials for a presidential candidate, Vice President Leni Robredo, and his uncle, Sen. Francis Pangilinan.
The actor, was accompanied by his two sisters — Hannah and Ella — went on a house-to-house campaign in Barangay Tinago, one of the congested communities in Dumaguete.
Residents didn’t recognize Donny and his sisters at first because they were wearing face masks.
When they removed their masks, the residents, especially the young ones, started to cheer. Some even walked with them as they continued to visit the houses.
When almost everyone knew that a celebrity was in the village, a number of people started waiting at the front door of their houses or stores.
A few passers-by were also pleasantly surprised to see Donny and his sisters walking on the street.
In an interview, Donny could hardly describe his feelings as he was doing the house-to-house campaign.
“Grabe. It was a different experience. It was fun,” he said in Filipino.
He also learned to appreciate the difficulties that the Robredo-Pangilinan volunteers faced in the campaign.
“The fight is not over. We will try our best so come May 9 the victory will be ours. Just keep going and have hope,” he added.
Pangilinan, son of Anthony Pangilinan and actress Maricel Laxa, started in show business as a VJ. He became known for his series “He’s Into Her” and the movie “Love Is Color Blind.”
Julmar Misa, a volunteer of Kauban ni Leni-Kiko in Negros Oriental, said he didn’t expect that Donny and his sisters would be joining them in the house-to-house campaign.
“I never expected celebrities like them will do house-to-house [campaigning] and do the hassle campaigning on the ground. We usually see them on stage where people come to them and cheer at them. Now they are the ones going to ordinary people. It is very inspiring for us volunteers” he said.
In a separate interview, Hannah said the courage showed by the volunteers for Robredo and their uncle gave them “hope.”
She admitted they were not prepared for such a big campaign for the vice presidency unlike when his uncle was running for senator.
“But it’s the people like you who make it happen and allow me to hope. Kaya natin to [We can do this],” she told the volunteers.
Hannah said that, as a first-time voter, she was inspired by the efforts of the young volunteers who campaigned for the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem.
She added that she and her siblings and their cousins worked like the volunteers in the campaign.
“We’re all working together and we all have a shared vision that’s going to make us win,” she said.
“We should be passionate like them [volunteers]” she said. “You guys really inspire us to come out and do things we have never done before… we do it anyway because you showed us that if you can do it, we can do it also.”
The Pangilinan siblings said their influence does not reach every voter, especially those who don’t have any access to social media.
“A lot of people who are actually voting are not on social media. The news and the information they hear are so limited,” Ella said in a separate interview.
“If we visited them, then maybe they would see another side of things, and they would hear personal stories and be able to connect with us,” she added.
The Pangilinan sisters also encouraged other celebrities to use their influence in educating the voting public.
“Celebrities are charismatic. They know how to entertain and connect… but words, speeches… they are effective but at the end of the day people just want to see our heart… People want to connect with you,” Hannah said.
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