The camp of presidential candidate Senator Manny Pacquiao is predicting that more people will express support for him as he held his first "grand rally" in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental on Saturday, April 2.
This came after Pacquiao's campaign organizers estimated that at least 30,000 residents, mostly "ordinary folks", took to the streets when the PROMDI party standard-bearer held his motorcade. Police have yet to give an official estimate of the motorcade turnout.
Pacquiao's fellow lawmaker, House Deputy Speaker and Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., expressed support to the boxing legend's presidential bid and vowed to deliver majority of votes from the province.
"I promise you, Manny will be number one here, 1,000 percent," Teves told reporters.
Teves said there is no doubt that Pacquiao is leading in terms of popularity. Aside from that, "No person is kinder than him."
"And here, I’ve been going around, karamihan maka-Manny. Lalo na iyong mga taong hindi nabibilang sa survey (Most of them prefer Manny, including those who are not included in the surveys)," he said.
Pacquiao is on his fourth day of his Visayas leg campaign. On Wednesday, he landed in Iloilo before jumping to Negros Occidental for two days worth of sorties.
After initially saying he was into doing house-to-house campaign, Pacquiao believes his Visayas sorties would trigger the start of even bigger rallies.
Pacquiao said his campaign team is still finalizing plans for future grand rallies. But he admitted that the tight campaign schedule has prompted them to skip invitations from local officials and supporters.
"Simula na ito. Magkakaroon na tayo (grand rallies) (This is the start. We will be having grand rallies)," he said, adding that there have also been requests from various local parties.