PRESIDENTIAL candidates Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Emmanuel Pacquiao, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, and workers’ rights activist Leody de Guzman are set to head to the provinces today where they will kick off their campaigns with their running mates and senatorial bets.
Robredo will go around Camarines Sur and hold a grand rally in her hometown Naga City to kick off her campaign to be the country’s third female president and the first one from the Bicol region.
Robredo’s running mate Sen. Francis Pangilinan and their senatorial slate will accompany the opposition’s presidential candidate in the hometown campaign which she said will be a “send-off” and an expression of gratitude to her fellow Bicolanos.
“The kick-off will be here in Cam Sur. It’s always been like that, it’s like a good luck charm and a show of gratitude),” Robredo said in Filipino.
She warned against the biggest threat to her presidential bid which she said is the vicious “disinformation” and “fake news” being spread by detractors to destroy her and her political allies.
The tandem of Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III will hold their proclamation rally at the open-air Imus Grandstand in Imus, Cavite, considered the bailiwick of Lacson who was born and raised in that town.
Former PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar, Dr. Minguita Padilla, and former Makati City Rep. Monsour del Rosario, who form Lacson’s senatorial slate, will join Lacson and Sotto in Cavite.
Before taking the Imus Grandstand at around 5 p.m., Lacson and Sotto are scheduled to attend a Mass at the Imus Cathedral at 3:30 p.m.
Cavite is the second vote-rich province in the country with more than 2.5 million registered voters. Lacson and Sotto were successful in securing support from Caviteños during their past senatorial runs.
Pacquiao and De Guzman will kick off their campaigns for the presidency right from their doorstep.
The boxing champ will hold a caravan from his home city of General Santos in Mindanao at 1 p.m. and will be on the road to meet supporters for two hours.
At 3 p.m., his political party, PROMDI, is hosting a proclamation rally for him and his running mate Rep. Lito Atienza (PL-Buhay).
Over 1,600 kilometers away up north, unionist and workers rights activist De Guzman will launch his campaign with a caravan pulling out at 3 p.m. from his residence in San Andres, Cainta in Rizal province.
The convoy of vans and bikers will tackle Metro Manila’s notorious traffic to link with supporters from various labor groups beside the ABS-CBN compound on Sgt. Esguerra Avenue in Quezon City at around 5:30 p.m.
His Partido Lakas ng Masa has organized a proclamation rally for him and vice presidential bet former congressman Walden Bello.
The “BBM-Sara UniTeam” of former Marcos and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will kick off their campaign at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan this afternoon. Joining them are 11 senatorial bets of the UniTeam — re-electionists Sherwin Gatchalian and Juan Miguel Zubiri, former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Reps. Loren Legarda and Rodante Marcoleta, former Public Works and Highways secretary Mark Villar, former senator and Information secretary Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II, former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, former senator Jinggoy Estrada, former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista, lawyer Larry Gadon.
Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr., who resigned as chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority yesterday, is joining the Marcos-Carpio team today as its campaign manager. — Wendell Vigilia, Raymond Africa, Ashzel Hachero, Peter Tabingo, and Jocelyn Montemayor
