DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines — The De Venecia family, led by former five-time House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., has openly expressed their support for Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential bid during the Talindeg Pangasinan people’s rally Friday night held at the sprawling parking lot of CSI Mall Lucao.
De Venecia, his wife and former congresswoman Gina de Venecia and their son, re-electionist Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Christopher de Venecia, raised the hands of Robredo, witnessed by an estimated 76,000 supporters wearing pink t-shirts from different areas in Pangasinan who came to join the rally.
In a statement, former congresswoman de Venecia said, “I believe that VP Leni should be the next president because she is righteous, a lawyer, an economist and a human rights advocate.?She is capable of fighting for us, because the more they oppress VP Leni, the more courageous she becomes.”
De Venecia further pointed out, “This is the only presidential campaign that I witnessed wherein the people themselves are engaged in bayanihan to make their candidate win, particularly, the youth sector.”
PHINMA-University of Pangasinan also issued a manifesto of support for Robredo which partly said: “We believe that Leni Robredo, whose bravery and courage is like Pangasinan’s legendary Princess Urduja, will protect the interests of the nation – territorial and moral, for a better Philippines.”
The province of Pangasinan is part of the so-called “solid north” of the Marcoses. It ranked third in the list of Philippine provinces with the most number of voters. To date, Pangasinan has 2,096,936 registered voters.
Judging from the more than 76,000 who attended the Talindeg Pangasinan rally, Robredo appeared to have shattered the vaunted solid north of the Marcoses.
Earlier that day, there were also mini rallies conducted in the municipalities of Bani, Villasis and University of Pangasinan, also in Dagupan.
Talindeg is a Pangasinan word which means to stand up for one’s belief, principle, advocacy, philosophy, not for personal reason but for a bigger spectrum which is for the nation.
Before Robredo spoke, Cong. de Venecia was called on stage and greeted, in his speech, the Vice President and her team for coming to Dagupan.
He narrated that he and Robredo have the same advocacy, such as the promotion of arts and culture, especially the creative industries that he is pushing in Congress.
Cong. de Venecia said his mother and Robredo were like family during their stint in Congress.
The young de Venecia was later joined by his parents on stage to raise Robredo’s hands.
Robredo’s running mate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, looked on as the De Venecia family raised the hands of the Vice President. The crowd, at the time, were chanting, “Isama si Kiko! (Include Kiko!)”
Since the De Venecias are with the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats political party, Sara Duterte is the one they are pushing for vice president. – Janvic Mateo