DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 January) – It was a showdown of forces on Sunday night: a “kick-off rally” of “Bagong Pilipinas” at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and a “candlelight prayer rally” with former President Rodrigo Duterte at the Rizal Park.
Bagong Pilipinas, according to President Marcos’ July 3, 2023 Memorandum Circular, is the “overarching theme of the Administration’s brand of governance and leadership, which calls for deep and fundamental transformations in all sectors of society and government, and fosters the State’s commitment towards the attainment of comprehensive policy reforms and full economic recovery.” Why it took nearly seven months to mount a “kick-off” rally has not been explained.
Before January 20, government agencies in the national capital had issued memoranda urging participation in the launching of the Bagong Pilipinas campaign.
In Davao City, Councilor Conrado Baluran delivered a privilege speech on January 23 titled “Unity for One Nation, One Opposition” against attempts to amend the 1987 Constitution through an alleged People’s Initiative initiated by politicians paying citizens some amounts for their signatures.
He invited his colleagues to attend a “mass launching peace rally” on January 28 at 9 a.m. at the San Pedro Square to say “Dabawenyos are not for sale” and “together with the calling for every Filipino people (sic) to participate in this greater cause for a nationwide campaign.” He said a crowd of 50,000 was expected to attend.
Davao City, he said, will “remain resilient and will not just stand aside as an observer but shall take part continuously striving to unite for one nation, one strong opposition.”
Changing themes
The rally’s theme changed thrice in a week: from “One Nation, One Opposition” as Baluran told reporters, to Transparency, Accountability, Peace and Security as focus according to former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, and finally, “Hakbang ng Maisug,” an awkward mix of Filipino and Cebuano that literally means “Step of the Brave.”
Evasco explained that “Hakbang ng Maisug” means “Step forward of the brave, the fearless Filipinos who are gathered here this day.” Asked by MindaNews whether this would go nationwide like the “listening sessions” they mounted nationwide in 2014 and 2015 in preparation for Duterte’s Presidential bid, Evasco smiled.
Both Marcos and Duterte were expected to be onstage at 6 p.m., Marcos at the Quirino Grandstand and Duterte at Rizal Park where he warned Marcos that if the moves to amend the 1987 Constitution by buying signatures for an alleged People’s Initiative continues, the Davao rally “will multiply all over the Philippines and there will be trouble.” (see other story)
Duterte spoke for 45 minutes, and in typical Duterte fashion, mouthed his favorite expletive 18 times during a supposed “prayer rally.”
Duterte was expected to be the last speaker at the Leaders’ Forum at the Grand Men Seng Hotel whose four huge function rooms were used to accommodate a thousand persons, but Evasco, who delivered a brief speech shortly before 5 p.m. said the former President would proceed to the rally instead.
Evasco, however, returned to the stage immediately to say “constant change,” and that Duterte was on his way to the forum.
A few
Only a few national and Mindanawon personalities showed up at the forum, among them Marcos’ former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez, former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, former Presidential spokespersons Harry Roque and Salvador Panelo and former Biliran Representative Glenn Chong.
No incumbent Governor from the Davao Region’s five provinces, and the 23 other provinces in Mindanao spoke at the forum where the guest of honor was the first Mindanawon President. Davao Occidental Governor Claude Bautista, however, was seen at the rally.
Some personalities may have been expected but did not show up because Roque, who spoke for an hour, told the audience he had been prompted by Evasco to continue speaking.
MindaNews asked for a copy of the program but no copy was made available. No press kit was also given. At the forum’s venue, no program handed to the participants.
Senators Bong Go and Imee Marcos were present at the rally, the latter seated beside Vice President Sara Duterte who earlier showed up at the Bagong Pilipinas rally in Luneta.
No show
Duterte did not show up at the forum. At 5:43 p.m., the emcee announced that the former President was no longer coming and would proceed to the rally.
Supposedly scheduled at 6 p.m., the national anthem was played at the Rizal Park here shortly after Marcos ended his speech at the Luneta.
Duterte’s mayor-son, Sebastian, had delivered a 25-minute speech earlier that afternoon, calling on President Marcos to resign. “You are lazy and you lack compassion,” Sebastian said, among other descriptions of the President. Sebastian has been criticized as an absentee mayor.
Former President Duterte, who started his 45-minute speech at 9:40 p.m., more than two hours after Marcos spoke at the Luneta, did not call for Marcos’ resignation but warned he might suffer the fate of his father, Ferdinand Sr. who was ousted by People Power in 1986, if he does not stop his wife Liza, and first cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, from pushing for a signature campaign for alleged People’s Initiative, in exchange for money.
Duterte called Marcos “bangag” (high on drugs) and a “drug addict” and his wife Liza, “hungry for power.” In response, Marcos on Monday told reporters shortly before leaving for Vietnam: “I think it’s the fentanyl.” He said Duterte, who admitted to taking fentanyl for pain relief after a motorcycle accident, has been taking the drug for a very long time now that “after five, six years, it has to affect him.”
“I hope his doctors take better care of him,” he said.
At the Luneta on Sunday night, Marcos ignored Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte’s call for him to resign. But under Bagong Pilipinas, he told the crowd, “bawal ang tamad” (Lazy persons not allowed).
Marcos called for a “united response that would make our nation strong, our economy sound, and our children’s future secure.”
He said Bagong Pilipinas serves no narrow political interest but “serves the people,” that it is a “set of ideals that all us Filipinos, regardless of political creed or religion or wealth, can coalesce around.”
“Bagong Pilipinas is addressed to all government officials and employees, and citizens of this country. It is an invitation to all of us to think about being a Filipino and view the nation from a renewed perspective. It is a call for transformation. The transformation of our idea of being a Filipino, and the transformation of our economy, of governance, of society,” he said.
The Presidential Communications Office earlier said they were expecting 200,000 persons to attend the Bagong Pilipinas kick-off rally. The Presidential News Desk on Sunday said “around 400,000 people attended the event, including members of the Cabinet, lawmakers, local government officials, and the general public.”
Last week, Baluran said they expect 50,000 would attend the rally here. The rally, according to police estimates, gathered 53,500 persons but using a tool called Mapchecker, MindaNews determined that even at a fully packed capacity, the stretch of San Pedro Street from CM Recto to Legaspi can only be filled to around 27,443 persons at 1.50 people per square meter. Crowded, the area would only have around 13,721 persons. (Carolyn O. Arguillas with reports from Manman Dejeto, Yas Ocampo and Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)