Robredo ends campaign run at historic financial district with 780,000 in attendance
MANILA, Philippines (3rd update, 11:52 p.m.) — Vice President Leni Robredo, her running mate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, and their senatorial slate have ended the 90-day campaign period at the country’s historic financial center in the company of around 780,000 of their supporters.
“Bawat isa sa inyo, patunay: Hindi lahat natutulog ngayong isinusulat ang kasaysayan,” Robredo told the roaring crowd that occupied Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue in Makati City. “Ngayong gabi, buong pagmamalaki nating masasabi: ‘Nandito ako, kasama ako, tumataya ako.’”
(Each one of you is proof: Not all are asleep while history is being written … Tonight, we can confidently say: “I’m here, I’m part of this, I’m betting on this.”)
In her speech, Robredo recalled the beginning of her bid for the presidency in October 2021, saying that back then she still could easily see people among the crowd.
“Ngayon, hindi ko na matanaw ang dulo ng mga taong kasama natin ngayon. Totoong walang kayang tumugma sa nagkakaisang lakas ng sambayanang Pilipino,” she said.
(Now, I cannot see the end of the sea of people who are with us now. It’s true that nothing can compare to the united strength of the Filipino people.)
Their miting de avance in Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue in Makati City came just a day after they toured Robredo’s bailiwick, the Bicol region, as they did to kick off the campaign.
The site has been the place of many pivotal moments in the country’s political history, some of them associated with key figures of the Liberal Party, which Robredo still chairs even if she ran as an independent presidential candidate.
Three years before the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was kicked out of Malacañang through the People Power Revolution, thousands of office workers walked out mid-afternoon to protest opposition leader Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.’s assassination on the tarmac of the airport that is now named after him.
Yellow confetti rained down on the funeral procession of Aquino Jr.’s wife, former President Cory Aquino, when it passed by Ayala Avenue in 2009 in a scene that echoed images of the People Power Revolution that installed her into power. A year after that, Filipinos would vote for her son, Benigno Aquino III, as president.
Powered by her 'Kakampinks', Robredo has mounted shows of force in various spots in the country throughout the campaign season where hundreds of thousands flocked to her rallies and endured heat, rain, hunger and thirst just to show their support for her.
Despite drawing mammoth crowds at rallies, Robredo still placed far second in pre-election surveys by private pollsters next to her archrival, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
But even with this, Robredo told reporters in Sorsogon City on Friday that she is not nervous and even called on her anxious supporters to be confident.
"Magtiwala lang kasi hindi lang naman ako noong nagsipag, sila din. Hindi lang naman ako iyong ginawa iyong lahat pero sila din. Iyong lesson naman natin sa buhay, basta lalaban tayo to the best of our ability pero sa tamang paraan," she said.
(Just be confident because I am not the only one who was diligent, but them as well. I wasn’t the only one who gave my all, but them as well. The lesson in our life is that we will just fight to the best of our ability but in the right way.)
"Diyos na iyong bahala pagkatapos (It’s all up to God in the end.)"
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