Not the usual miting de avance, but a street party.
To the end, presidential contender Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago sought to differentiate herself from her rivals by joining a street party staged by supporters outside her campaign quarters at West Triangle, Quezon City on Saturday.
Santiago said on Friday that holding the expected miting de avance to cap the rigorous campaign period was “useless” since “those who attend have been bought by candidates.”
Instead, she announced around noon Saturday that she will attend the street party organized by her supporters, mostly youth volunteers who came in her campaign color red and brought their own election posters and paraphernalia.
“Never mind the other rallies. It’s time for a change from the usual miting de avance. We are having a good time here!,” declared emcee Von Edrian Villanueva, who led the other volunteers in singing and dancing to campaign jingles and chanting “Switch to Miriam!”
Santiago showed up at past 7 p.m. and rallied her supporters, stressing that she remained in the race.
Never quit
“I have said it before and I will say it again: I will never quit, I will never stop, I will never withdraw. I owe it to the Filipino people who believe in my leadership and who yearn for long-overdue reforms,” Santiago said in a statement ahead of her appearance at the party.
The statement was in response to President Aquino’s call on Friday for the presidential candidates to “unite” against frontrunner Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas publicly called for a “unity meeting” with rival Sen. Grace Poe on Friday, but she quickly rejected it just as publicly on national television.
Santiago’s running-mate, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also showed up at the street party.
NPA candidate
On Friday, Santiago, who had campaigned on an anticorruption platform, defended her choice of Marcos as running mate. The Marcos family has a history of ill-gotten wealth.
She also attacked her other rivals, describing Duterte as a candidate of the communist New People’s Army and Poe as a candidate of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
Santiago accused Roxas of using government resources and paying people to attend his rallies. She had previously attacked Vice President Jejomar Binay for alleged corruption.
In her campaign sorties, the senator described herself as the most qualified among the presidential aspirants based on academic, professional and moral excellence.
She also said that voter preference surveys had conspired to keep her ratings low to force her to quit, and accused detractors of using her health against her. Santiago said her lung cancer was in remission.
Santiago called as well for a sense of “shared destiny” among Filipinos.
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