OPPOSITION presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo is working double time to win the hearts and minds of more people with just a week left before the May 9 national elections, returning to vote-rich Batangas last Saturday where her campaign rally drew a crowd of about 280,000 people, according to organizers.
The Vice President’s second visit to the province culminated in grand rally “Barako para kay Leni-Kiko” held at the Catalina Lake Residences in Bauan, Batangas.
Earlier in the day, house deputy speaker Vilma Santos-Recto and husband Sen. Ralph Recto, who heads the One Batangas Party which has endorsed the presidential bid of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, welcomed Robredo at their residence.
While they had lunch with Robredo, the Rectos did not categorically endorse her presidential bid, with Santo-Recto saying she would rather keep her choice to herself.
Robredo, however, was endorsed by Rep. Raneo Abu of the province’s second district, at the grand rally.
“Maubos na ang yaman, ‘huwag lang ang yabang! “Ito ang gusto ko, Leni Robredo! (We’d rather lose our wealth than our pride! This is what I want, Leni Robredo!),” he told the crowd.
Robredo was also endorsed by Nasugbu Mayor Antonio Barcelon, former Batangas 1st district Rep. Tom Apacible, local government officials led by Mayor Armando Afable, and Lemery Mayor Geraldine Ornales earlier in the day when Robredo visited their towns.
From the Archdiocese of Lipa, 118 priests endorsed Robredo after they blessed her at the Minor Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours in Taal.
Robredo, who won in Batangas in the 2016 elections, recalled the trust given by Batangueños and expressed confidence that she did not let them down as she said she served the people the best way she could in the past six years.
“Now, I’m returning to you, my confidence is high enough that when I look you in the eyes, I can say that I didn’t waste the help you gave me in the past six years),” she said in Filipino.
In Bauan, Robredo called on her supporters to redouble their efforts as the campaign period draws to a close.
“Alam ko marami na kayong sakripisyo noong mga nagdaang araw. Pero ang pakiusap ko po, ihirit na po natin ‘yung lahat ng ating mga bayan para makakumbinsi pa (I know that you’ve made a lot of sacrifices in the past days but I have to ask you, let’s give everything we got to convince more towns) days,” said Robredo.
Last night, Robredo was scheduled to revisit Cavite for a another grand rally in Plaza Alfonso where over 5,000 pink-clad supporters were gathered as of 3 p.m. Cavite is the second most vote-rich province in the country with more than 2.3 million registered voters this year.
Robredo and her running mate Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan remained the most-searched presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively, in the Google Trends page search tool.
Robredo still reigned in the category of presidential candidates with 55 percent, while Pangilinan maintained his dominance among the vice presidential aspirants with 47 percent.
Google launched the Search Trends page in March this year for topics and searches related to Philippine elections.
Google News Initiative earlier said the page will show how much a presidential and vice presidential candidate is being searched on Google compared to their rivals. It clarified, however that while the search tool helps put political trends into perspective, it still differs from survey data.
