A CANDIDATE’S DIARY, DAY 23: HUGE CROWDS TURN UP IN TULUNAN

People of Tulunan, a town carved out of my hometown M’lang, turned up in huge numbers in the two mini-rallies last night in the Poblacion area and in Barangay Sibsib, staying up until late at night and braving the rain.

It was a heartwarming sight especially since I won by only about 2,000 votes in the town in the 2010 elections.

All told my political opponent garnered 9,086 votes in Tulunan, a huge number considering that I have quite a number of relatives in the town.

“Testing-testing ang mga tawo,” said a local campaign leader who added that after two years and 10 months of governance by the incumbent leader of the province the people of the town have learned a painful lesson.

With most of the rural roads in the town in bad shape and the prices of the farmers’ products dropping to an all-time low, the people have started to compare my governance with that of the incumbent of Governor.

Added to that is the concern of people for peace and order and security having gone through several firefights with armed rebels especially near the Liguasan Marsh area.

The people of Tulunan are griping saying that in all of the troubles which erupted in the town in recent years, the Governor did not show any concern for the plight of the residents affected by the conflict.

Today, the surveys conducted in the town of Tulunan show that I am well ahead of the incumbent Governor at 73%, a figure which even the leaders of the other camp are not disputing.

With money and rice expected to flood the town before the elections to turn the tide to the favor of the other political group, people are eager to know whether the strategy which worked in garnering 9,086 votes in the 2010 elections would still be effective today.

“People have learned their lessons. Maybe they will no longer commit the same mistake,” said a local campaign leader.

(Photo caption: Part of the big crowd in Barangay Poblacion, Tulunan Sunday night.)