As campaign for 'unity' ends, bets take shots at EDSA, 2016 polls
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 12:31 a.m., May 8) — In the 90-day campaign season, the UniTeam tandem of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City MAyor Sara Duterte-Carpio have been quite disciplined in their call for “good vibes” and “unity.”
Despite criticisms of a perceived lack of concrete plans for the country, Marcos stuck to his campaign call for unity, saying they will not involve themselves in mudslinging against other candidates — they even used this as defense for not attending debates.
For their last campaign event, their Miting de Avance in Parañaque for their Luzon leg, Marcos’ spokesperson Vic Rodriguez, in an ANC interview Friday, said their overall theme for the last stretch of their campaign is “good vibes only.”
“Tone down on political speeches and just thank the people, because they did not get swayed by bullying,” he added in Filipino.
Senate bets Herbert Bautista and Jinggoy Ejercito, both actors also, took the UniTeam’s cue to thank their family for their support, their voices softening.
But Senate bet Robin Padilla, who was one of the UniTeam candidates to take the stage, echoed the latest call from Marcos to "protect" the votes. “Walang tulugan! Noong 2016, natulog lang tayo, putangina! (No sleeping! In 2016, we went to bed and then son of a bitch!)” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
It was a jab at when Vice President Leni Robredo overtook Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential race as more votes came in at night and erased Marcos' early lead.
Marcos contested the results at the Presidential Electoral Board but he lost, with the tribunal unanimously junking his petition and upholding Robredo’s win.
When suspended lawyer Larry Gadon took the stage, he did not hold back and cursed at the 1986 EDSA Revolution and called it “putangina” at least three times.
“Ngayon, iwawasto natin ang kasaysyayan, ang pagkakamali ng EDSA (Now, we will correct history, the mistake of EDSA),” the candidate from the Marcos-era Kilusang Bagong Lipunan who has been spouting falsehoods as well as conspiracy theories throughout the campaign.
He said that proof that EDSA 1986 was a mistake was former Duterte Cabinet member Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan II joining the UniTeam slate.
Honasan was a key figure during the EDSA Revolution, but when asked why he joined the slate headed by Marcos Jr., the retired soldier said he believes in the call for unity.
Gadon also trained his attacks on Robredo saying a president cannot be “lutang” or scatterbrained, an insult commonly thrown at the vice president.
The acerbic comments did not stop with Gadon, because Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (SAGIP party-list) continued to attack the EDSA Revolution, which he branded an "insanity", "poison" and a "deceptive period in our country."
His voice dripping with disdain, Marcoleta recalled that there have been two Aquino presidents — Corazon from 1986 to 1992 and her son Benigno III from 2010 to 2016 — and the ousted dictator Marcos was portrayed as a villain.
He again boasted of killing ABS-CBN's franchise application, a move that cost thousands of jobs amid a pandemic. He said: "Mabuti na lang nasara ABS-CBN sapagkat tagapagtaguyod [sila] ng alamat ng yellow ribbon."
(It’s good that ABS-CBN was shut down because they upheld the legend of the 'yellow ribbon'," he said, referring to a symbol for another Aquino — Sen. Benigno Jr., an opposition lawmaker who was killed at the Manila International Airport in 1983 and whose death ramped up opposition to the dictatorship — that has also been used by the decimated Liberal Party.
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