MARCOS LOYALISTS Supporters of Sen. Bongbong Marcos, led by lawyer Oliver Lozano, gather at Rizal
Park in Manila to protest the quick count for the vice presidential race. EDWIN BACASMAS
Supporters of vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday gathered under a shade of a tree at Rizal Park in Manila to express solidarity with him.
Marcos has accused the Aquino administration of rigging election results in favor of its candidate, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, in the close vice presidential race. The administration denied this.
Responding to a Facebook (FB) post calling for Marcos’ supporters to “occupy Luneta” starting 9 a.m. on Wednesday, over 100 supporters, mostly clad in red shirts, massed under a tree near Burnham Green, a few meters from Quirino Grandstand.
Lawyer Oliver Lozano, a staunch Marcos loyalist, met with the supporters.
“Yes. If you’re smart, you would have seen that [Marcos’] numbers were far [from Robredo’s],” Gie Guerrero said when asked if she believed Marcos’ claims of fraud.
“And then when we slept, just for one hour, suddenly the numbers already changed [in favor of Robredo]. That’s not fair,” added the 62-year-old resident of Parañaque City.
After an early lead by Marcos, Robredo overtook him in the unofficial count before dawn on Tuesday and has since maintained her lead.
The supporters said it was an impromptu gathering, prompted by the FB post, and not an organized rally. It was unclear, however, who posted the call on FB.
“It’s my first time to join anything like this. I don’t usually join protests,” Guerrero said.
Another Marcos supporter from Pampanga province, who refused to give her name, said the group was there not to protest, but to let Marcos know of its support.
Rolando Delizo, 59, of Sampaloc, Manila, said he had always been a Marcos supporter, and proudly flashed his ID as a member of the 1970s group called “Loyalists for Marcos.”
Also part of the crowd were young supporters, such as 19-year-old student Renz Christian Nuñez of Pasay City.
“I wasn’t just influenced by my peers or other supporters. I genuinely believe Marcos will work not for himself but for the interest of the greater good,” he said.
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