Admitting that the campaign team of presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo was initially apprehensive to break through the alleged “Solid North” of the Marcoses, senatorial candidate and former Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr. said on Sunday, March 13, that the team was “inspired” by the successful Isabela rally to push through with planned sorties in Northern Luzon.
In fact, the team was challenged to replicate in Baguio City the same success at the Isabela rally, which drew more than 10,000 supporters.
Baguilat, an Ilocano himself who is running under the banner of Robredo and running mate Sen. Francis 'Kiko' Pangilinan, shared that the campaign team was also discussing plans to enter the Marcos stronghold of Ilocos and La Union.
“Noong umpisa kasi talagang nangagamba sila, parang mahirap daw kung ituloy ‘yung rally sa Baguio (In the beginning, they are apprehensive, they said it might be hard to push through with the rally in Baguio) but now with what happened in Isabela, nabuhayan at handa sa hamon na paramihin rin ang dadalo sa grand rally sa Baguio City (encouraged and ready for the challenge of increasing the attendees of the grand rally in Baguio City),” he said on Robredo’s weekly radio show over dzXL.
Isabela, the biggest province in Region 2, is the heartland of the North.
“Kaya nga test case iyong—sa totoo lang sa akin ang malaking hamon was iyong kahapon sa Isabela because alam naman natin na iyong Bacolod, iyong Iloilo (That’s why it’s a test case—in truth, for me, the big challenge was yesterday in Isabala because we all know that Bacolod and Iloilo), these are the bailiwicks supposedly of Leni Robredo,” Baguilat added.
The former lawmaker shared that he’s proud of relatives and fellow Ilocanos who went to the Isabela rally.
The grand rally at Echague, Isabela, Robredo’s first foray into the “Solid North” territory, surprised Robredo herself who was admittedly “nervous” about the sortie.
READ: Crack in 'Solid North'? 10,000 crowd stands for Team Leni-Kiko in Cagayan, Isabela
The hashtag #IsabelaIsPink is still trending on the social media site with over 94,700 tweets.
'Kakampinks' living in Northern Luzon on Saturday, March 12, said they want to prove that there is no such thing as “Solid North,” a term that refers to the strong electoral support of northern Philippine provinces, particularly those of Ilocandia, to the family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
Right now, there is still no final word from the campaign team when they plan to hold more rallies in Northern Luzon, but Baguilat said Robredo already expressed her intentions to woo voters in these provinces.
The Vice President visited Cagayan and Isabela on Saturday, fresh from the massive turnout of her rally in Bacolod, Negros Occidental that drew more than 86,000 people.
Baguilat shrugged off naysayers of Robredo’s massive rallies, saying that they’ve already “calculated” that their detractors will try to break the “momentum” of the campaign.
“Hindi nila mapipigil ito (They cannot stop this),” he said.