Wearing red and green shirts, tens of thousands of UniTeam supporters of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Wednesday filled the stretch of Commonwealth and other major streets during the leading duo’s first grand unity caravan in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Presidential aspirant Marcos and vice presidential bet Duterte barnstormed Quezon City to solidify their chances of winning the country’s two top posts in the May 2022 presidential elections.
“The people came out of their houses and occupied the Commonwealth and Quezon Avenues to express their support for the BBM-Sara tandem. They represent the silent supermajority. This is unprecedented,” said Malayang Quezon City mayoralty aspirant Mike Defensor.
A party-list lawmaker representing Anakalusugan, Defensor spearheaded the grand caravan with his running mate, Councilor Winnie Castelo, House Majority Leader Martin G. Romualdez, Quezon City Reps. Precious Castelo and Onyx Crisologo, former Quezon City Rep. Bingbong Crisologo, and others.
This developed as Defensor vowed to deliver more than 750,000 votes for Duterte and Marcos in next year’s polls after what he described as “supermajority” came out of their houses to support the grand caravan.
“Based on voters during the last election, there are 1.3 million registered voters, assuming we have a turnout of almost 80 percent or let’s assume one million, we are guessing the votes for Bongbong Marcos will be at 750,000 or more in Quezon City, or a supermajority,” Defensor said.
The motorcade was a show of force and signified the strength of the tandem in Metro Manila, as well as reinforcing survey results showing they were leading the race in the capital region and elsewhere.
The BBM-Sara caravan practically occupied all eight lanes of the northbound (Brgy. Commonwealth) and southbound (Brgy. Commonwealth to Philcoa) roads of Commonwealth Avenue as the convoy passed through.
Defensor apologized for the heavy traffic the caravan caused even as he decried the group not being allowed to perform activities at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.
The motorcade kicked off with a meet-and-greet event at the eastbound lane of Commonwealth, in front of the Commission on Audit (CoA) head office.
Traffic was stalled along major thoroughfares in the city where the snail-paced caravan passed by, but instead of being annoyed, motorists and passers-by eagerly waited for the vehicle that was carrying Marcos and Duterte and zealously honked, while crowds chanted “Bongbong-Sara!”
A magnificent sea of humanity came in their trademark red and green T-shirts, but thousands of Angkas and Joy Ride motor taxi riders clad in blue, not to be outdone, took a day off to join the historic event.
Taxi drivers and other public utility vehicle drivers also stopped plying their routes temporarily and patiently waited for the motorcade. Some people were seen standing by on footbridges, while others stood on top of vehicles to have a clearer view of Marcos and Duterte.
Sirens of firefighters and marching bands playing along the route dominated the festive mood, with the BBM-Sara UniTeam the hot ticket of the day.
Marcos and Duterte maintained their message of unity to help the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and propel economic growth.
The caravan took a U-turn along Fairview and went through Commonwealth Avenue all the way to Quezon Avenue and ended at the Welcome Rotonda.
Thousands of motorcycle riders wearing red and green shirts dominated the highway as a show of unity and support for Duterte and Marcos.
Defensor also appealed to the groups behind the filing of disqualification cases before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against Marcos to respect the people’s will and decide for their future.
He stressed that all disqualification cases against Marcos are baseless and unfounded.
“The only chance of the opponent or a candidate to win is to disqualify BBM, other than that BBM will win,” Defensor said.
Under the UniTeam alliance, Marcos is the standard-bearer of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) while Duterte is the vice presidential aspirant of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) where she is the chairperson.
Romualdez is the president of the Lakas-CMD while Defensor is a friend and ally of the party.
The Castelo husband and wife team as well as Crisologo father and son tandem are members of Lakas-CMD.
Meanwhile, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’s chief of staff and spokesperson, thanked Mayor Joy Belmonte and other city officials, the caravan organizers, and the residents, regardless of their political belief, for their support.
Rodriguez also apologized to the motorists and the MMDA for the traffic the event created “because we never anticipated that the carefully laid down preparation exerted by the organizers will be overwhelmed by the massive number of supporters who graced the occasion.”