Vice President Leni Robredo, heads into the homestretch of the 2022 campaign season with major rallies in Naga City Friday night (shown above) and Makati City on Saturday. (VPLR Media Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential bid drew the expected overwhelming support from the Bicol region on Friday, the homestretch of the campaign period and a few days before the 2022 national elections on Monday.
Local organizers said 40,000 people assembled along Sorsogon City’s Magsaysay Street during a grand rally, highlighted by senatorial candidate and Governor Francis Escudero’s assurance that the Bicol region would be there for its most-celebrated daughter.
Robredo later made her way to Legazpi City in Albay, where she was welcomed by an estimated crowd of over 100,000.
Later in the day in her home city of Naga, rally organizers said over 306,000 individuals trooped to Magsaysay Avenue and its adjacent streets for Robredo’s “miting de avance.”
The event was graced by showbiz celebrities, including Ogie Diaz, Jolina Magdangal, Agot Isidro, Nikki Valdez, Piolo Pascual, and “Megastar” Sharon Cuneta, wife of Robredo’s running mate, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilina.
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Speaking in Bicolano, Robredo gave a lengthy speech which detailed how she spent her life in Naga City back when her husband, Jesse Robredo was still mayor, how she entered politics after his death, and the counter-arguments to allegations that she cheated in the 2016 vice presidential race.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako na kahit mahirap ang laban na ito, andiyan kayo sa tabi ko, kasama ko kayo sa laban. Kaya maraming salamat sa inyo. Marami tayong pinagdaanang hamon,” Robredo said.
“Kilala ninyo ako, alam ninyo kung anong klaseng pamamahala ang aking isinusulong. Alam ninyo kung anong klase pulitika ang aking pinaniniwalaan. Pag nagsabi akong ayoko sa korapsyon, alam ninyong ni minsan hindi nadawit ang pangalan ko sa anumang anomalya,” she added.
Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion and Camarines Sur gubernatorial candidate Rolando Andaya also vowed to support Robredo’s candidacy.
The Naga City rally is the last campaign activity of Robredo in the Bicol region. On Saturday, she will be in parts of Central Luzon and will cap her campaign with another “miting de avance” in Makati City’s Central Business District in Ayala Avenue.