‘Flash mob’ amid COVID

Some people could be overly excessive in their passionate if not blind support for their candidates who are among those running on May 9 national and local elections. Such passions are getting several notches higher as the next presidential polls inches just around the corner. But many among the so-called “silent majority” could not wait for the election to be done and over with. The bickering over their candidates is no longer healthy, especially with the mutating strains of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) still evolving since the pandemic outbreak more than two years ago.

A case in point was the recent “flash mob” battle between the “red” and “pink” camps of two presidential supporters at the posh Rockwell Plant Mall in Makati City last Thursday. The “reds” are supporters of ex-senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM) while the “pinks” are rooting for Vice President Leni Robredo.

The running battles to draw crowds to their respective political campaign rallies have been escalating as election day draws nearer. The fight for crowd estimates have been going on between the BBM “reds” and the so-called “kakam-pinks” of VP Robredo.

But the running feud of the BBM “reds” and VP Robredo’s yellow-turned “pink” followers started way back in the May 2016 elections when Robredo won the bitterly fought VP race. The electoral protest filed by BBM against her victory remains active even though the Supreme Court (SC) already affirmed the decision of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) upholding Robredo’s VP win. This is on the motion for reconsideration that the BBM lawyers immediately filed to the SC that remains pending.

Consistently topping the pre-election mock polls in the presidential race, survey-takers noted the voters’ preference for BBM comes largely from income classes D and E. These are the socio-economic categories to classify the lower income and the poorest sector of the Filipino society.

Second-running in most of these pre-election mock polls, VP Robredo draws much support from the A, B, and C income classes, or the rich, privileged and middle income earning Filipino voters. Thus, political strategists of VP Robredo have lately shifted to house-to-house campaign strategy.

On the other hand, the BBM camp obviously has lesser voters’ base from the A and B income classes. A self-confessed Marcos supporter, socialite Cat Arambulo Antonio apparently tried to prove wrong such public perception. She is known in society circles as the wife of Century Properties chief financial officer, Carlo Antonio. On her social media account, she posted an invitation to like-minded BBM supporters within their society circles “to wear red and head to Rockwell Power Plant Mall on Thursday (April 28), 2:30 p.m.” to shop, eat, or just go on a mall tour.

What was intended as a “flash mob” turned into a chanting and shouting match between “reds” and the kakam-pinks” as to who numerically outnumbered whom.

Ideally, a “flash mob” is a large public gathering at which people perform an unusual, or seemingly random act and then disperse. Typically organized by means of the internet or social media, a “flash mob” equip themselves with cameras and LED lights to put on a surprise performance to please the crowd. Some others organize a “flash mob” to surprise or greet someone for a special occasion.

“As far as I know, it was supposed to be a day that (Marcos) supporters would just eat, shop and just wear red to meet other fellow supporters,” Antonio explained in her post afterwards. “Since the feedback online seems to be like it has the potential to turn into something divisive, I have decided that I will not be going to Powerplant today (Thursday) anymore. I really don’t want this to turn into something I don’t believe in or what the (Marcos) campaign stands for,” she added.

What could have been a happy, cheerful occasion became, however, disruptive, especially to the mall-goers who did not wish to be caught in the middle of quarrelsome people in both camps. It was worse for the mall security personnel caught off-guard by the sudden mob-scale surge of people with feuding color persuasions. This is not to mention the mall management and their stall owners and concessionaires whose normal conduct of business were nearly cut short.

Smarting from this incident, advisories were later posted within the premises of the Power Plant Mall reminding mall goers that “activities that may be disruptive to shoppers and affect mall operations such as congregating, loud chanting, flyer and merchandise distribution, are not allowed in [its] premises.”

Sadly, these advisories were ignored by many fanatical supporters.

Obviously, these are the same campaign people behind them who wanted to continue the grudge fight of the two aspirants, this time in their race for the presidency.

But more than the impromptu chants battle at Rockwell Mall, this incident only adds to the ongoing scare of a looming potential surge anew here of COVID-19 cases. Especially worrisome is the fact another highly infectious Omicron sub-variant has already breached our country’s borders despite health protocol safeguards at the airports and at our other international gateways.

Fears erupted on a possible resurgence of COVID-19 cases in our country following the confirmation by the Department of Health (DOH) last week that the BA.2.12 Omicron sub-variant has already been detected here. A 52-year old woman from Finland who flew here to attend a conference held in Baguio City was tested positive for this Omicron sub-variant. Despite being fully jabbed with anti-COVID vaccines, the more transmissible sub-variant still infected the Finnish woman. Fortunately, 44 of her close contacts here tested negative so far.

With the overcrowding in political campaign rallies, house-to-house, and lately “flash mobs” amid the continuing pandemic dangers, it is really not question of “if” but of “when” the new COVID surge comes in.