Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — (UPDATE) It was the news they wanted to hear.
Thousands of people who gathered on the soccer field of the University of the Philippines Cebu in Barangay Lahug here on Sunday afternoon, broke into cheers when Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano announced that Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would run for president in 2016.
On Cayetano’s cue, the crowd started to light their torches, which the senator said would symbolize hope for the country now that Duterte would finally run for president.
As torches were lighted, a female singer sang “You light up my life,” a hit song in 1977 by Debby Boone.
The rally, which was held to drum up support for Duterte, ended about 6 p.m., instead of 10 p.m. as earlier announced by the organizers.
But only Cayetano, prospective running mate of Duterte, showed up in the rally.
Paul Melendez, provincial information officer of Duterte for President Movement, was hopeful that the mayor could make it. But Duterte had a prior engagement in Iloilo, he said.
The rally, the first for Duterte in Cebu, started at 1 p.m. with about 3,000 people converging on the soccer field.
The crowd swelled about 5 p.m.
Organizers claimed that 11,000 people turned out for the rally but the police pegged it at 5,000.
Melendez said the event was called Rock for Federalism because it also served as a venue to inform the people about federalism, which was the main platform of Duterte.
There was a booth where people could sign up and become a volunteer in the campaign for a federal form of government.
There were four big empty 50-gallon water bottles near the entrance for the “Peso sa Pagbabago” (Peso for Change) campaign.
As of 4 p.m., one remained empty while the rest had few coins. SFM