CEBU, Philippines - The grand campaign rally of the Liberal Party in Cebu City which has gathered an estimated 60,000 last Saturday tested the capability of the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) in mobilizing people.
This was according to BOPK congressional bet for the South District and incumbent Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
The successful rally was attended by people from the urban poor, senior citizens, youth and other sectors.
“This is our way of testing the capabilities of our organization in mobilizing. The crowd here is not even one fourth (25 percent) of what the previous rally has gathered,” Osmeña said referring to the grand rally organized by the Nacionalista Party at the Mandaue City Reclamation Area more than a week ago.
He also bragged that many have stayed until the end even if they did not provide any food and transportation.
Earlier, Osmeña said that LP has no budget for a grand campaign much more for hakots.
He said it did not spend any amount for the grand rally. Funds used were sourced from supporters of BOPK which organized the rally for LP.
Cebu City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said that some groups brought transportation but it was already their own initiative.
“If we resort to hakot, the number of people we can manipulate. We can buy their presence but not their enthusiasm. And the enthusiasm is what we want to see from them and what we just saw,” Fernandez said.
The grand rally last Saturday was attended by LP standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his runningmate Senator Manuel Roxas together with Senatorial candidates Franklin Drilon, Ruffy Biazon, Nereus ‘Neric” Acosta, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Ralph Recto, a representative of Sonia Roco, Danny Lim, and Alex Lacson.
LP provincial candidates headed by Hilario “Junjun” Davide III also joined.
On Recto’s presence, Osmeña said that he did not really welcome it, but he did not also want to be the spoiler.
BOPK is supporting the full slate of LP except for Recto.
“Well, somebody asked me if it’s okay to just send Vilma here instead of Recto but I told him, it’s okay, I will not prevent him. I don’t want to be bastos,” Osmeña said. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)