Youths from different areas of Bukidnon comprise the bulk of supporters present during the rally of UniTeam in Malaybalay City on Thursday, 31 March 2022. MindaNews photo by H. MARCOS C. MORDENO
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 01 April) – Over four hours of entertainment and less than two hours of speeches where the candidates barely mentioned what they would do should they win marked the rally at the provincial capitol here Thursday of the UniTeam ticket of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
The candidates used most of their time for jokes during their speeches which lasted no more than 10 minutes each.
Marcos Jr. himself devoted several minutes to anecdotes about his son Zandro. He did not elaborate on any platform except to say that the country must address the impact of the pandemic.
Senatorial candidate Herbert Bautista, a former comedy actor who had served as mayor of Quezon City, just sang “Bakit Ngayong Ka Lang?” while feigning a romantic scene with a local girl who happened to be onstage.
Bautista was a supporter of Marcos Jr.’s father and namesake, the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos who was ousted in 1986 via the EDSA People Power Revolt.
Marcos Jr. arrived around 5:15 pm along with Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Juan Miguel Zubiri and former senator Jinggoy Estrada. Four hours prior, their supporters and allied candidates from Valencia City and other towns of Bukidnon numbering 10,000 at most had been kept on their feet by local performers.
The candidates and host Gov. Jose Maria R. Zubiri Jr. focused more on emphasizing what they claimed was a huge crowd that had come to show support for the Marcos-Duterte tandem.
The governor suspended work at the capitol and provincial offices of national government agencies on Thursday afternoon, apparently to enable the employees to attend the rally if they wished.
But an employee at one national agency said that should somebody ask for the reason of the work suspension they would say “disinfection.”
Senator Ronald de la Rosa, who represented Duterte, tried to turn the table on the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem. He accused the opposing camp of manipulating rally photos and videos to show they have a big following, the same allegation being thrown at the UniTeam.
Both groups have been trading charges of posting edited rally images on social media.
Estrada hit their opponents for calling those who attended their rallies “bayaran” (bribed) topped with the Bisayan cuss word “yawa” (devil) to the delight of the crowd. He used the word in jest three times during his speech where he only cited a higher minimum wage for workers as his legislative agenda.
He said if Marcos Jr. wins “wala ng kulay pula, wala ng kulay berde, wala ng kulay pink, at higit sa lahat, wala ng kulay dilaw (there will no longer be red, green, pink, and above all, yellow),” eliciting a wild applause from the partisan crowd.
Pink is the color being used by the Robredo-Pangilinan ticket while yellow is associated with the Liberal Party (LP).
Robredo and Pangilinan belong to the LP but chose to run as independents in the May 9 elections.
Estrada, who was charged with plunder but out on bail, called himself “a victim of the previous (Aquino III) administration.”
“Malinis and aking konsensiya, wala akong kasalanan (My conscience is clear, I did nothing wrong),” he added.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate education committee, urged for the revival of face-to-face classes, reform of the K-12 program and salary increase for teachers.
Former Palace spokesperson Harry Roque did not come. A trio rendered instead a dance number on his behalf.
Antique Rep. Loren Legarda, former senator Gregorio Honasan, former Public Works secretary Mark Villar, Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, lawyer Larry Gadon, and former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro were also absent.
For his part, Senator Zubiri expressed elation that Bukidnon has become one of the richest provinces of the country.
In 2020, Bukidnon ranked as the 5th wealthiest province nationwide with assets worth P18.56 billion.
However, poverty incidence in Bukidnon has remained one of the highest in the country, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a report covering the first semester of 2021, the PSA said poverty incidence in Bukidnon was 32.8 percent, an increase of 0.6 percent compared to the same period in 2018.
The 2021 figure is lower than that for Lanao del Norte excluding Iligan City (39.1 percent) but higher than the regional average of 26.2 percent.
“Among Filipinos, the poverty incidence was 23.7 percent in first semester of 2021 or about 26.14 million poor Filipinos,” the report said. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)
