At least half a million people from Las Piñas City came out to show their support the UniTeam candidates led by presidential bet Bongbong Marcos and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Sunday, March 13.
This estimate was provided by the Marcos camp in a statement Monday morning, March 14. It cited a "report of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Las Piñas".
"The total number of people who came out of their respective homes and expressed their support along the entire 12-kilometer stretch of road from Muntinlupa to Las Piñas, including those who participated in the caravan, and those who attended the grand rally at The Tent of BBM-Sara UniTeam was estimated to be 500,000," the statement read.
But the same statement said that the turnout for the Sunday activities could be even higher, as it noted the logistical computations of a staff member of UniTeam Senate slate member Mark Villar.
"She indicated that with a 12-kilometer long road full of people on both sides, with a conservative 20 layers of people (but in fact there were more) on each side, computed at one person per meter, there would already be 480,000 people, and including the thousands of supporters who went to The Tent, the grand total number of those who sacrificed and paid tribute and support to the BBM-Sara UniTeam in the two cities, may likely exceed 500,000," it said of the staff member's observations. She was not identified.
So huge was the crowd at the UniTeam caravan-motorcade that Villar, who hails from Las Piñas, claimed that everybody left their homes just to see a glimpse of Marcos and Duterte.
Marcos and Duterte have consistently led pre-election surveys for the position of president and vice president, respectively.
Marcos is the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer, while Duterte is the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) bet for the vice presidency. She also chairs Lakas-CMD.