MANILA, Philippines — Vice presidential candidate Walden Bello, who chairs coalition Laban ng Masa, flagged the camp of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for releasing a statement calling members of socio-economic class ABC the “thinking class.”
Bello said he and the coalition “strongly reject the insinuation” that those in Class D and E are not part of the so-called “thinking class.”
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“We must call on the Filipino working class to take exception to this insult, and ensure that no vote is casted for these matápobre politicians. Filipinos deserve better than anti-democratic leaders who think they are ignorant,” Bello said in a statement Sunday.
Marcos' camp released a statement regarding his lead in voter preference for Class ABC in the March presidential pre-election polls held by Laylo Research.
Bello said Marcos has reduced voters from classes D and E to segments whose votes Marcos can get in exchange for cash, mentioning documented incidents of suspected vote-buying at his previous campaign sorties.
In December last year, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies said the pandemic increased the number of Filipinos who can’t afford to provide for their basic needs by 23.7% after 26.14 million more Filipinos were pushed into poverty.
Bello also called out Marcos for allegedly being silent on reforms such as wealth taxes, land reform, and wage hikes because of ties and his said bias to billionaires.