Stalwarts of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) on Saturday welcomed Uniteam presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in a sortie in Antipolo City.
The sortie was conducted in two separate multisectoral gatherings and reportedly drew thousands.
The Rizal leg today (Saturday) effectively wrapped up the CALABARZON leg of the BBM-Sara Uniteam Caravan’s pre-campaign sorties in the region, which has the biggest number of registered voters — numbering 8.72 million — among the 17 regions for the May 2019 elections.
“This is equivalent to 14 percent of all registered voters in the country,” noted House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin G. Romualdez, president of Lakas-CMD which carries Duterte as standard-bearer and candidate for Vice President.
“Our internal surveys show that the BBM-Sara team is right on track in scoring a landslide win in CALABARZON, securing at least 59 percent of the voters this early,” Romualdez said.
At the Ynares Sports Center Saturday morning, Duterte thanked the Ynares family led by former Rizal Gov. Casimiro “Junjun” Ynares, III and his wife, Antipolo City Mayor Andrea Bautista-Ynares, both stalwarts of NPC, for helping them organize a UniTeam event here.
In his speech, Junjun Ynares welcomed the Uniteam tandem and introduced Marcos as the country’s next president.
Senatorial aspirants Harry Roque, Jinggoy Estrada, and Brian Revilla of Agimat party-list group joined Marcos and Duterte at the Ynares Sports Center.
The successful event was also attended by Rizal Vice Gov. Junrey San Juan, a stalwart of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) led by Marcos as its standard-bearer.
From Ynares Sports Center, the Uniteam held a motorcade to Taytay, Cainta, San Mateo, which ended at the jampacked Montalban Sports Center for another multi-sectoral gathering organized by Lakas-CMD spokesman and Rizal 4th District Rep. Fidel Nograles and other local leaders.
“We will make Sen. Bongbong and Mayor Sara the winning team in Rizal. In my district, we will give them 130,000 out of 200,000 registered voters,” said Nograles, who held a caucus with political leaders to ensure that the supermajority votes will be delivered to Marcos and Duterte in next year’s polls.
Rodriguez, Rizal Mayor Dennis Hernandez, another NPC member, attended the event.
During the Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) gathering, other attendees with Nograles were former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Romualdez, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe, Cainta mayoralty candidate and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) legend Alvin “The Captain Lion Heart” Patrimonio, and San Juan.
In San Pablo City, Laguna last Friday, political bigwigs crossed party lines to give a warmest welcome to Marcos and Duterte whom they described as the “winning team” in next year’s elections.
“Laguna is more than elated and excited to welcome our winning team and the perfect tandem, the UniTeam of BBM-Sara,” Laguna Vice Governor Karen Agapay, national president of the League of Vice Governors of the Philippines, told the UniTeam BBM-Sara meet-and-greet with Lakas-CMD officials and members, friends and the Fraternal Order of Eagles Philippine Eagles at the Palmeras Garden Restaurant here.
Laguna Gov. Ramil L. Hernandez, a party-mate of Agapay under the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), also met with Duterte as Agapay announced their decision to make the presidential daughter an adopted honorary daughter of Laguna.
Pakil, Laguna Mayor Vincent Soriano, Lakas-CMD provincial chairman, assured the victory in Laguna of Marcos and Duterte who are consistent survey frontrunners.
Soriano said Lakas-CMD is working in collaboration with PDP-Laban in the province to ensure a better Laguna.
In another rally in Calamba City Friday afternoon, Mayor Justin Marc Chipeco, a stalwart of the Nacionalista Party (NP) of former Senate President Manny Villar declared support for Marcos and Duterte.
Chipeco, Calamba City Rep. Joaquin Chipeco Jr., and their political allies organized a rally attended by public officials and multi-sectoral groups at the Rizal Grounds in front of Calamba City Hall.
Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones, another stalwart of NP who is running for governor, attended the rally before Marcos and Duterte arrived.
The BBM-Sara Uniteam’s Unity Caravan also received a warm welcome in Cavite.
Some women were in tears when they greeted the pick-up truck carrying Marcos, Jr., and running-mate Inday Sara Duterte, while traversing the stretch of Bacoor to Rosario.
The euphoria was similar with the previous scene described as “sea of humanity” in Quezon City, the all-day sortie from Bacoor City and the towns of Noveleta, Rosario, and Kawit were attended also by thousands who support the tandem.
Most of the supporters sported red and green clothes patiently waited for the arrival of the Uniteam caravan.
Some of them are waving the Philippine flag. A man showed a ‘sculpture’ of the face of former President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. while a Caviteno also wore a barong Tagalog combined with a traditional Filipino hat and red neckerchief depicting a brave Filipino.
Cavite, with an estimated 2.1 million registered voters since 2019 and considered one of the vote-rich provinces in the country, is also widely known as “Lalawigan ng Magiting.” With Rey E. Requejo