The mini-rally held in the remote barangay of Sarayan, Matalam last night could go down in the history of the 2013 gubernatorial campaign as one of the biggest barangay rallies I have ever staged.
Arriving 9 o’clock last night, two hours late for a rally which was supposed to start at 7 p.m., I was deeply touched by the sight of an estimated 3,000 people coming from Sarayan and Bato in Matalam, and Sarayan in Pres. Roxas cramped in an open space in the barangay plaza, some of them clambering up to poles and posts just to get a glimpse of their Governor.
Our local campaign leaders who arranged the sortie said people were in the area as early as 5 p.m.
The huge crowd stayed and listened, with empty stomachs, until the rally ended at past 11 p.m.
“Pahikapa ako kamot mo,” one elderly woman asked me shouting as she reached out for my hand as I moved around the area to meet people up close shortly after I arrived. (Let me touch your hand.)
“They have been waiting for you,” said an elderly relative who had to walk six kilometers back and forth just to be at the rally in Sarayan last night.
When I spoke, I saw the people froze as I enumerated one by one what happened to North Cotabato after only three years of misguided governance, pulling down the province from one of the Top 30 Provinces all over the country to being one of the poorest 16 areas in the Philippines.
The reaction of the people during the rally confirmed the statistics provided by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
They complained of very low prices of rubber, copra and other farm products.
Countless hands were raised when I asked them how many high school graduates could not go to college this year.
As I ended my campaign speech with a promise that I will be back after the elections to visit Barangay Bato, I saw a greatly relieved people, comforted by the thought that they have a leader whose hand they could touch and whose voice they could listen to up close.
If the number of people were to be used in assessing the outcome of the elections, it is very clear that it is not Manny Pinol himself who is asking people to vote for him, but the people themselves asking Manny Pinol to bring them back to the better life they enjoyed a few years ago.
I believe that the increasing number of people attending our rallies already indicates an irreversible trend leading towards victory, a bandwagon which even tons of rice and wads of money could not derail.
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