Not even the early downpour or transportation woes prevented Negrenses from painting Negros Occidental pink as 70,000 attendees packed the Paglaum Stadium in Bacolod City during the grand rally of Vice President Leni Robredo and runningmate Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan Friday evening, March 11.
At 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Negros Occidental provincial admin estimated the crowd to be at 70,000.
It is, by far, the largest crowd drawer in all Team Robredo-Pangilinan's grand rallies, followed by Cavite's 47,000.
Locals even likened the tour of Robredo and Pangilinan with their senatorial slate in the province to the city's MassKara Festival held every October with its festive mood.
"Hindi pa ba kayo pagod? Umulan na, uminit na, napakataas pa rin ng energy n'yo. Lagi n'yo kaming ginugulat kapag bumibisita kami dito (Are you not tired yet? It rained and shined, but your energy is still high. You always surprise us every time we visit here)," Robredo said as she greeted the 70,000 strong crowd at the grand rally.
During her speech, the presidential aspirant vowed that under her term, if elected, the game-changer Negros Guimaras-Iloilo Bridge will finally be realized.
She also expressed her intention to back the revival of Negros Island Region and the crafting of sugar industry roadmap to further boost local produce for the country's needs.
Virtually, Robredo's visit to Negros Occidental, was also the "talk of the town" as hashtags related to her campaign activities in the vote-rich province dominated the trend list the entire day.
As of posting, #BacolodIsPink has already over 156,000 tweets and the top trending topic in the social networking site, followed by #MASSKARApatDapatLeniKiko as the second-most trending with over 110,000 tweets.
In 2016 vice-presidential race, Robredo won in Negros Occidental with over 590,000 votes.
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