THE VENUE is the message.
Three presidential aspirants and their running mates are scheduled to hold proclamation rallies today (Tuesday) in places they claim represent the core message of their respective election campaigns.
Two other presidential candidates chose cities considered to be their bailiwicks.
It’s Welfareville in Mandaluyong City for Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Tondo in Manila for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Plaza Miranda in Manila for Sen. Grace Poe, Roxas City for Mar Roxas, and Batac City for Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
With poverty as the main “moral issue” of his campaign, Binay will kick off his bid for the presidency among the poor of Mandaluyong.
Along with his running mate, Sen. Gregorio Honasan II, and senatorial slate under his United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) party, Binay will hold the proclamation rally at the Welfareville compound this afternoon.
“We chose Welfareville to start off the campaign where the poor people live. This is how we have found out the real problems of the poor,” UNA president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco told the Inquirer.
The Mandaluyong proclamation rally will be “duplicated around” the country, Tiangco said.
Asked why poverty and addressing it seemed to be the main focus of the Binay campaign, Tiangco said poverty was the “biggest problem of our country and the biggest moral issue today.”
“Why is it that the rich only get to be richer, why the poor are not flourishing?” he asked.
Another Binay spokesperson, Joey Salgado, said Binay, a former mayor of Makati City, would continue to present his platform of government “anchored on uplifting the lives of the people, something he has done in Makati.”
“He (Binay) will continue to talk directly to the people about his track record of decisive and propoor management and his programs to bring in more jobs, improve the quality of education, provide accessible healthcare and address poverty,” Salgado said.
Plight of urban poor
Duterte will hold his proclamation rally in Tondo. Similar activities will be held in the cities of Davao, Digos, Tacloban, Iloilo, Cebu and Butuan.
Tondo was chosen as venue for the main rally at the start of the campaign period “to dramatize the plight of the urban poor,” said Leoncio Evasco, mayor of Maribojoc in Bohol province and campaign manager of Duterte.
“About 80 percent of Tondo residents come from the Visayas who went to Manila because of the lack of opportunities in their provinces,” Evasco said. “These people represent government neglect.”
Plaza Miranda
Plaza Miranda, where Poe will hold her proclamation rally, was the same venue where she launched her 2013 senatorial campaign.
It was also the place where Poe’s father, the late Fernando Poe Jr., who had faced questions about his citizenship, started his presidential campaign in 2004.
Poe is more concerned about whether the Supreme Court cases questioning her residency and citizenship on the eve of the proclamation rally at the plaza in front of Quiapo Church.
“I’m not nervous, I’m ready. I’m praying for good weather,” Poe said in a text message. She said her main concern was to effectively communicate her platform and her message to the people.
Poe’s spokesperson, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian, said: “She has decided to leave her fate to the people, She feels calm and peaceful because she is confident the electorate is wise and will look at the real issues in the elections.”
Cebu Rep. Ace Durano, the campaign manager of Poe’s Partido Galing Pilipino (PGP), said the presidential candidate would be joined by her running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero, and their 12-member senatorial lineup.
Durano said the team had obtained a permit from Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada to hold the rally from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the plaza, venue of political and proclamation rallies before martial law. “We appeal to the public for understanding because of the expected heavy traffic situation during the PGP proclamation rally,” Durano said.
Capiz, Iloilo
The ruling Liberal Party (LP) hopes to gather at least 30,000 supporters in Capiz and Iloilo provinces to kick off the campaign for its national candidates.
The rallies in Roxas and Iloilo cities will be joined by President Aquino, according to Senate President Franklin Drilon and Capiz Rep. Antonio del Rosario.
“The bailiwick of the Liberal Party is Western Visayas. It is natural that we launch the campaign from here,” Drilon, LP vice chair, told reporters in Iloilo.
Western Visayas includes the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Aklan and Guimaras.
“I am inspired by the challenge of the moment,” Roxas said as he embarked on his quest to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and namesake, the late President Manuel A. Roxas.
“I am fortified that I’m not alone in this fight. I am confident that we will prevail (and) that in the end, the righteous will win,” Mr. Aquino’s anointed successor and standard-bearer of the LP-led daang matuwid coalition said in a text message.
Anticorruption drive
Roxas would be anchoring his campaign on the perceived gains of the Aquino administration’s anticorruption drive while trying to parry criticisms brought about by the President’s controversial stance on issues, like the aborted pension increase of Social Security System retirees.
He will hold his proclamation rally in front of the hometown crowd at the 6,000-seat Capiz Gymnasium in Roxas City.
Roxas Vice Mayor Ronnie Dadivas, an LP member and one of the organizers of Roxas’ proclamation rally, said at least 10,000 people from the Panay region were expected to attend the 10 a.m. gathering to show their support for one of their own.
Since Sunday, major roads in Roxas City have been festooned with welcome banners and tarpaulins of Roxas, his running mate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and their 12-member senatorial slate.
“This is history in the making. We are all very excited. Expect Roxas City to be in a festive mood (today),” Dadivas said.
114-km motorcade
After a two-hour program, Roxas and the entire coalition candidates will lead the 114-kilometer motorcade from Roxas to Iloilo City where they will also attend another proclamation rally.
The President, accompanied by 16 Cabinet members and other officials, is scheduled to arrive in Iloilo from Capiz at 2:30 p.m. He will proceed to Pavia town for the turnover of an 18-room school building at Pavia National High School.
He will then proceed to Freedom Grandstand on J.M. Basa Street for the LP rally set at 4:30 p.m. until 10 p.m.
The President will speak after the senatorial candidates had spoken and before Roxas delivers his speech.
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog earlier said about 20,000 LP supporters from the city and neighboring towns were expected to attend the rally.
Batac
In Batac City, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ hometown, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and her running mate, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, will be making their first public appearance as a team.
Bongbong’s elder sister, incumbent Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, is running for reelection unopposed.
John Marvin Galat, 19, president of the Debate Society of Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac City, said on Monday that a “great wall of support” was being prepared by the Miriam-Bongbong Youth Movement (MBYM) in the Ilocos region, which he also heads.
In Apayao, Cagayan and Isabela provinces, local officials and groups identified with Marcos’ loyal supporters have openly campaigned for the Santiago-Marcos tandem.
“Our solidarity as Ilocanos is highly ingrained in our culture. I hope the Solid North will deliver Bongbong [and Miriam] to Malacañang as it did well for [his father] and former first lady [and incumbent Ilocos Norte Rep.] Imelda Marcos,” said Apayao Board Member Remy Albano, who is running unopposed for Apayao vice governor.
“As we continue to integrate into the knowledge economy, we need leaders who can harness young people’s potentials to help make the Philippines competitive vis-à-vis other countries. We believe that Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Bongbong Marcos are best fit to lead our country to progress and to redeem us from the evils of corruption, crime and inefficient leadership,” MBYM said in a statement.
Formed in December, MBYM’s 200 members have been campaigning for the Santiago-Marcos tandem over multimedia platforms.
Santiago and Marcos will also meet with MMSU students.
General Santos
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, an independent vice presidential candidate, chose his wife’s hometown, which happens to be a stronghold of his political party, to officially launch his vice presidential campaign.
Trillanes will hold his proclamation rally at Barangay Bula Gymnasium in General Santos City at 2 p.m. on Feb. 10.
General Santos is the hometown of his wife, former Philippine Military Academy professor Arlene Orejana-Trillanes, and a stronghold of the Magdalo Party. Reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Gil C. Cabacungan and Dona Z. Pazzibugan in Manila; Marlon Ramos in Roxas City; Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas; Leilanie Adriano, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Nico Alconaba, Inquirer Mindanao
