By Mortz C. Ortigoza
I thought that after the camp of presidential bet Leni Robredo left the huge concrete open space – host of the 76,000 crowd - of CSI mall owned by the family of former Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, I told my wife and son Jigger – while we were struck around 11 pm of April 8 in the muddy parking space near the highway – that Robredo’s party would be spending the night in a hotel at the coastal city.
“She’s weary doing hustings in Bani and Villasis (towns in Pangasinan) and addressed the 1,600 students and staff of the University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City the whole day,” I said.
The following morning, my mole in the camp of former five-time Speaker Joe de Venecia told me the convoy of the presidential bet had midnight dinner at the house of the rabble rousing Speaker in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City before motoring the more than an hour rides to Tarlac City.
Through the intercession there of the De Venecias (Speaker Joe, Missus former solon Manay Gina, and incumbent Congressman Toff) she met the 140 barangay chairmen (village chiefs) of the one city and four towns’ Fourth Congressional District. The District is the perennial citadel of the De Venecias.PANGASINAN 4TH DISTRICT POLITICAL KINGPIN former House Speaker Joe de Venecia (extreme left, photo), son Congressman Christopher and spouse Manay Gina (2nd and 1st from right, photo) raised the hands of presidential candidate Leni Robredo in a colossal assembly of supporters from various parts of the 2.1 million voting strong Pangasinan province that converged at the open space of the CSI mall owned by the family of former Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.
“The backing of the De Venecias will frustrate the three provinces Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union in Region-1 because Pangasinan goes for Leni,” my spy said.
I told him the almost 1.5 million registered voters of the three Ilocano speaking provinces are dwarfed compared to Pangasinan’s almost 2.1 million registered voters where Ilocano and Pangasinenses divide the demography.
“Walang Solid North,” my errand boy Procopio Matulis quipped when he told me about the De Venecias and former Mayor Belen valiant decision to go against the customary sentiment of the people in the Ilocos Region (another name of Region 1).
Manay Gina by the way is a Bicolana like Leni. Does her support has something to do with regionalism or a careful tactical political move by the De Venecias as my source wanted me to believe?
The region has 3,546,764 registered voters (Comelec 2022 data taken from the 2,096, 936 voters of Pangasinan (including the independent component city’s Dagupan), 538, 730 voters of La Union, 476, 984 voters of Ilocos Sur, and 434, 114 voters of Ilocos Norte.
PRESIDENTIAL BET – who is the current Vice President of the Philippines - Leni Robredo (right, photo) and Dagupan mayoralty candidate former Mayor Belen T. Fernandez. Fernandez and the political family of former House Speaker Joe de Venecia wanted to pierce the vaunted Solid North’s voting myth of the family of the late Ilocano Dictator Ferdinand Marcos by exhorting voters to support the presidential bid of Robredo – a Bicolana.
After the rally in Dagupan City and spending the night in Tarlac, Robredo and slate (like Senatorial bets and bitter enemies’ Antonio Trillanes and Dick Gordon – I had a brush with the brash solon Big Dick before the start of the assembly that is now viral and expected to hit a million views at Facebook - have gargantuan rally in the nearby Pampanga province on the dusk of that day. That rally – according to the police – showed 220, 000 yelling, shoving, and jostling Ka-Pampangans who attended that sea of humanity.
“Hinde iyan sibuyas lasona (small onions) iyan!” my columnist in Northern Watch Newspaper and pro-Marcos’ Prof. Arnel Montemayor whose nom de plume is Munting Isko cried at FB hahaha when he saw the Pampanga’s Kakam-Pinks crowd.
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A few days before the mammoth rally outside the CSI stadia and malls ensued, a mayor told me that he and another Hizzoner were badgered by Manay Gina at her residence in the coastal barangay Bunuan Binloc to join the Leni and Kiko Pangilinan’s rally.
“Sinabi ko naman kay Manay na hinde puwede kasi pinsan ko sila Marcos pero mapilit kaya papupuntahin ko na lang si misis ko doon,” he lamented.
Other hizzoners I saw there (Geez, I was near the stage and had even dinner and interviews with 1Sambayan Convenor former Supreme Court Justice Tony Carpio and ex-Ombudsman Conchita Morales inside the Stadia) were Calasiao, Binmaley, and San Manuel, Pangasinan Mayors Joseph Bauzon, Sam Rosario -who smarted Dictator Marcos jailed him - and Kenneth Marco Perez, respectively.
The other mayor told him to just ride with the wish of the matriarch of the political kingpin of the Fourth District so she would not chide them.
Instead, the De Venecia got the chiding from the avid supporters of Marcos when the family raised the hands of Robredo in the stage as the multitude in Dagupan City chanted.
Former Congressman and congressional candidate of the First District Art Celeste called the De Venecias as “has been” diminishing political force.
"In 2016, they (de Venecias) who (sic) were with the Liberal Party campaigned hard for Mar Roxas (for President and Leni Robredo for Vice President, but they (Mar-Leni) lost miserably in Pangasinan despite the massive resources of the 'yellows' then," former First District Cong. Art Celeste, who is making a congressional comeback, told Manila Times.
He recalled that even the party-list Inang Mahal of former representative Gina de Venecia did not garner substantial votes in the mammoth province.
"She (Gina) is a Bicolana like Leni Robredo who doesn't care, feel and think like the Ilocanos and Pangasinenses do," Celeste said.
Congressman Toff de Venecia was booed too by the thousands of supporters in the Leni Rally when he acknowledged and thanked President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Go.
De Venecia’s congressional rival lawyer Alvin Fernandez assailed him on his April 9 Facebook’s post: “He is now supporting the two opposing Mayors of Dagupan and is also in both their official line up. I am very happy that he is now supporting Leni although he has also been attending and supporting the other (rival Bongbong Marcos). Siya lang po nakakaalam sino sa huli ang pipiliin niyang Mayor at sino sa huli ang pipiliin niyang Presidente".
De Venecia and his mother Gina were in the Bongbong Marcos’ rally in February 27, 2022 held in Dagupan City, according to a news report.
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| Drone shots of the 76,000-strong “Kakampink” crowd in Dagupan City, Pangasinan during the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem’s grand rally. That’s more than double the size of the crowd when front runner Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. held a rally in the same city in February 27, 2022. Photo Credit: Rappler.com |
In the March 17-21, 22022 poll of Pulse Asia, it showed that Robredo’s rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. got 56% while Leni notched to 24%.
But with the 9% spike of the poll stocks of Robredo and 4% decline of Marcos from the same pollster’s February 18-23, 2022 survey, Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes opined that the Bicolana had found the silver bullet - how to swell public opinion in her favor. They are the gargantuan rallies that started first in the March 20, 2022 130,000 supporters’ Pasig rally and her other colossal assemblies, and the house-to-house strategy.
In an interview with "The Chiefs" over Cignal TV's One News, Holmes said sustaining the rise of Robredo will depend on what her campaign will do in the following weeks.
Holmes attributed Robredo's rise in the latest Pulse Asia survey to the different tactics that her team has adopted since the start of the campaign period, including the holding of large rallies and the media coverage that it received.
While the decline of support for Marcos was not statistically significant, Holmes said it is different in the case of Robredo. She saw a rise among supporters in most areas and across all socioeconomic sectors covered by the poll.
MY PROGNOSIS: Come the next scientific survey in April 20 - that could go public in May 1 – that could show Robredo spikes her March 17-21 to another 15 % then she wins the May 9 presidential derby. Failure to get that figure, she losses while Marcos wins.
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