Rally organizers have confirmed that Vice President Leni Robredo will be present during the grand rally slated this 8 AM, Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at VTC Metrowalk.
The VTC rally is being organized by the Our Leni Is Our President movement composed of professionals, businessmen and concerned citizens.
Days prior to the rally, the issue about the venue became public on social media.
Some of the organizers wanted the rally at the sprawling Catanduanes Athletic Complex while others preferred either the Cua-owned VTC Metrowalk for its roofed areas in view of the rainy weather, or the boulevard expansion initiated by a former congressman who has been trying hard to ride on the VP’s bandwagon.
Apparently, saner heads prevailed, considering that the athletic complex would be too big a venue. A conservative estimate puts the number of possible attendees to just over 15,000, which is acceptable as Catandunganons are not that showy of political support.
On the other hand, the so-called “laylayan” group of Leni supporters on the island is reportedly holding its own rally at the Virac town plaza at 6 AM.
As she had expressed during her last visit, Robredo is likely to keep clear of any endorsement of local candidates.
Most of the provincial bets, including Gov. Joseph Cua, Cong, Hector Sanchez, San Andres Mayor Peter Cua, and Vice Gov. Shirley Abundo are reportedly supporting the vice president’s bid for Malacanang, despite the fact that they are running under political parties endorsing other presidential candidates.
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Senator Richard Gordon is also arriving this Wednesday, April 13, to reach out to Catanduanes voters just by showing up and talking to the local leaders and the media.
The Philippine Red Cross chairman will be met at the airport by members of the board of directors of the PRC Catanduanes Chapter as well as its staff and volunteers.
From the airport, Sen. Dick Gordon will lead a motorcade to Imelda boulevard, heading to Bato población and back to Virac’s main thoroughfare.
He will be the third senatorial candidate to come to the island since the campaign began, after Sen. Joel Villanueva and former Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito.
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Judging by the huge crowds attending rallies of national politicians as well as last Sunday’s all-seats-filled Mass at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Virac, many are wondering why the national government has yet to allow 100% occupancy inside churches and the return of the walking, not mobile, processions during the Holy Week.
For weeks now, there have been few new cases and zero deaths for the last two months or so in the Happy Island.
Even the town of Caramoran was able to hold its traditional, festive Palm Sunday hosanna activity complete with elaborately designed tagahans and singing children.
But the Catholic church is not budging from its cautious policy, preferring to continue the mobile processions for the third year since the pandemic began, although the “palaspas” procession was more of the original version, attended by several hundred parishioners.
Critics of the government’s pandemic restrictions are particularly spiteful of DepEd’s allowing only limited face-to-face classes despite the reality on the ground that pupils are playing without masks outside their homes and then entering classes with masks on and a seat apart.
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SMALL TOWN SINNERS. In a small town, people sinned a lot. The priest, an elderly man, was getting tired of constantly hearing the nasty term “adultery”, day after day in confessions.
So he created a code word for it. Whenever someone loses their mind, they must tell the priest in the confession: “Father, I fell.” As such, when someone confessed to have “fallen”, the priest knew instantly what was going on. He would tell the sinner to pray an Our Father and a Hail Mary, and that was it.
Some years passed, and the old priest passed away. However, he didn’t have time to tell his successor, a young priest, about the existing code.
The young priest was in shock with so many people falling, so he decided to go to the town hall and report the weird situation to the mayor.
“Good morning, Mayor. Listen, I don’t mean to cut in on your work, but the pavements in this town are in a terrible condition! Not a single day goes by when I don’t hear someone, in confessions, complaining about falling…”
The mayor began to laugh. Before he could clear everything up, the young priest interrupted him:
“You shouldn’t be laughing like that! For your information, your poor wife has fallen three times this week alone!”