Leni-Kiko surges (Updated)

(A shorter version has been published in Weekly Notes, my Cebu Business Week column this week)

Promoting Sen. Kiko Pangilinan in Cebu.

Leni-Ace-Junjun Food Station

Members of the Leni-Ace-Junjun Kami Movement again put up a food station during the Cebu Yass! rally at the Phinma SWU grounds on May 4, 2022.

Basically held to push Sen. Kiko Pangilinan forward, the rally also focused attention on NGO leader Bimbo Fernandez who ran for vice mayor of Cebu City and Vice Gov. Junjun Davide who is the highest ranking, remaining Liberal Party leader in Cebu.

The rally also relied on the participation of party-list groups Akbayan, Partidong Mangagawa, and Makabayan.

Google Trends

Brash BBM-Sara trolls had been arrogantly proclaiming victory through the months. After futilely debating for their candidates Ferdinand ‘Bongbong” Marcos and Davao Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio on Facebook, for instance, they just claim they will win anyway.

But they are in for a surprise.

Google Trends shows the Leni-Kiko tandem going way ahead in the final campaign days. Google searches for Vice President Leni Robredo reached 55 percent while interest for Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. dropped to a measly 24 percent. The searches for Sen. Kiko Pangilinan went 47 percent while that of Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio dived to 35 percent.

For the huge Leni-Kiko flock of the middle class and youth volunteers, the main campaign activity for the past weeks involves mobilizing from house to house in poorer communities. This has apparently chipped huge blocks from the soft BBM-Sara camp.

Clad in pink shirts, the huge army of Leni-Kiko volunteers farmed out in various communities in house-to-house campaigning.

The Leni-Kiko volunteers approach and persuade supporters of pro-BBM-Sara politicians.

Aside from house-to-house campaigns, Leni-Kiko volunteers from the real estate sector also moved to sway urban poor leaders in Metro Cebu.

Note that these Leni-Kiko volunteers move about spending their own resources while BBM-Sara supporters rely on campaign money provided by the national BBM-Sara HQ or local politicians.

Shrewd political operators know the pro-Leni-Kiko momentum makes vote-buying operations doubly expensive for the BBM-Sara camp. The grapevine tells me the BBM-Sara camp could resort to devoting more funds to influencing the Commission on Elections (Comelec). This means relying more on their local candidates. But could the BBM-Sara tandem rely on equally shrewd local politicians?

One Cebu wavers

Gov. Gwen Garcia’s One Cebu split on the Marcos issue when it decided on supporting the BBM-Sara tandem.

Then we see the spread of sample ballots proclaiming Gwen Garcia and Hilario Davide III. It seems Gov. Garcia has begun latching on to the Leni-Kiko momentum through Davide. Namangka diay sa duha ka sapa.

Meanwhile, pro-Gwen trolls shifted to being supposed Leni advocates going for a boycott of Ace Durano for supposedly supporting Marcos.

This is quite ironic after spending millions and strongly endorsing Marcos and Sara Duterte at the SRP on April 18, 2022. According to Gov. Garcia, the rally in a three-hectare lot gathered 300,000 BBM-Sara supporters in Cebu.

Then what about members of Garcia’s One Cebu who defied her call to support Marcos and Duterte and switched to Leni Robredo?

• Seventh District Congressman Alan Peter Calderon and Dumanjug Mayor Gungun Gica expressed support for Leni and Senate President Tito Sotto. (Read Rappler’s story)
• Mayor Raul Gerona has shifted support to Leni Robredo?

Vice President Leni Robredo and Vice Governor Junjun Davide visited her cousin Tabuelan Mayor Raul Gerona and his brother Vice Mayor Rex Gerona last April 21, 2022. Check out the FB post.

Has the much bigger Leni-Kiko rally in Cebu and the courtesy call on Mayor Ramonito Durano unnerved her?

Vice President Leni Robredo (third from left) and Sen. Kiko Pangilinan (extreme right) pay a courtesy call on Danao Mayor Ramonito Durano during her last Cebu sortie last April 21, 2022. With Mayor Durano are former tourism secretary Ace Durano,

Durano rises

But as Gwen wavers in her support for the BBM-Sara tandem in the face of the Leni-Kiko momentum, her challenger Ace Durano benefits from the apparent support from Leni Robredo herself.

Though apparently hobbled by an earlier agreement with the pro-Duterte Partido Pilipino Ng Pagbabago (PPP) that led to a disappointing Pink-less grand rally in Talisay City, Robredo still expressed support for Durano.

Though he refused to sign the pro-BBM-Sara manifesto of PPP, Ace Durano showed himself a principled team player. This angered Leni-Kiko diehards.

But her support for Durano and his Cebu Priority Development Agenda (CPDA), along with his #LeniAceJunjun Kami Movement, has somehow begun to lift him among pro-Leni volunteers.

I love #leniacejunjun. Leni knows #abetterPhilippines is only possible if #ABetterCebu — meaning Ace Durano and Junjun Davide — will win. A boycott will only make Gwen win. #Kakampinks, let us emulate #Leni. Let us support #aceduranojunjundavide! (Check the Leni-Ace-Junjun FB page)

After all, a Gwen Garcia victory will ruin the governance of Robredo and Davide in Cebu for a better Philippines.

(If you like this article, please react, comment and share. We only have a few days left to circulate this as wide as possible — #LeniAceJunjun convenor)