SUPPORTERS of Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday lambasted deputy speaker Jesus Crispin Remulla, saying the congressman insulted many of his fellow Caviteños when he claimed that those who attended the opposition presidential candidate’s grand rally in General Trias last Friday were paid P500 each to join.
The Robredo People’s Council (RPC) expressed disgust over Remulla’s claims in a statement posted on Facebook by Kerby Salazar, Cavite 6th District board member and a supporter of the Robredo-Pangilinan team.
“The Robredo People’s Council-Cavite and volunteers for Leni-Kiko from different sectors of the society and in the name of the 47,000 people who supported and joined the Grand People’s Rally last March 4, 2022 at the Gen. Trias Sports Park strongly condemn the malicious, derogatory, irresponsible and baseless allegations in connection with the said rally),” the group said in Filipino, and called Remulla’s allegations an “an insult to the dignity of Caviteños.”
Remulla, who represents the province’s 7th District, said last Saturday that the organizers of the event may have spent as much as P8 million to organize the largest rally yet in Robredo’s presidential campaign, stressing that people were obviously paid to come to the rally because they were mobilized, complete with service vehicles like jeepneys, a staging area and pink shirts. He went as far as saying the participants were either paid or were trained by the communist National Democratic Front which he said has allied with Robredo.
He also said a local survey has shown that 64 percent of Cavite voters prefer Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. while only 15 percent are supporting Robredo.
RPC-Cavite said no one was forced or paid to join the rally. It said participation in the rally came from the Caviteños’ desire for change.
Robredo’s spokesman Ibarra Gutierrez said Robredo’s critics “seem to have run out of ammunition against her, making up stories that are supposed to be non-issues.”
He said people walked to the venues and participated in the rally voluntarily. We don’t pull and bring them there to attend these rallies),” he said last Sunday over RMN radio.
Gutierrez said it seems some politicians are so used to paying people to attend their rallies “that they think it is the only way for them to draw people.”
Remulla’s statements affected another presidential candidate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who reacted to the part about a coalition government with communists and denied allegations he was red-tagging.
“The statement made by Cong. Remulla merely triggered my tweet on the matter. That being said, I never red-tagged anybody. I was simply warning those concerned to be wary of a possible coalition government with a movement whose sole objective is to seize power,” he said.
Lacson, in his Tweet on Sunday, said “This is worrisome. A coalition with the CPP/NPA/NDF will set back the gains of the government’s efforts to end the country’s decades-old insurgency problem.”
With that Tweet, netizens bashed Lacson.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon, an ally of Robredo, said the huge crowd in Robredo’s campaign rallies “shows a big disconnect between survey results and the true sentiment of the people on the ground.”
“Surveys give us numbers, but sorties and rallies make us feel the sentiments and the emotion of the people. We are seeing a growing public support for the candidacy of Vice President Robredo. This huge turnout proves that the Leni-Kiko campaign is gaining ground all over the country. It speaks doubly louder than those surveys being pushed by certain firms,” he said.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines named 12 senatorial candidates it will support.
“We are confident that these 12 pro-workers senatoriables will carry the torch for working men and women as well as their families in the next Senate,” said TUCP president Raymond Mendoza.
The 12 are reelectionists Risa Hontiveros, Joel Villanueva, and Richard Gordon; Reps. Loren Legarda and Allan Peter Cayetano; former senator Jinggoy Estrada, former Public Works secretary Mark Villar, former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, and former MinDA chairman Emmanuel Piñol; human rights lawyers Neri Colmenares and Chel Diokno; and labor leader Elmer Labog. — With Raymond Africa and Gerard Naval
