Supporters signe the “No to Bongbong Marcos” wall during the general assembly of the Anti-Bongbong Coalition in a hotel in Cebu City on Saturday afternoon. (CDN PHOTO/CARMEL LOISE MATUS)
FEARFUL of survey results putting Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on the top of the vice presidential race, the Anti-Bongbong Coalition (ABC) intensified its campaign to block his aspirations for the country’s second highest office.
The Coalition launched yesterday its “No to Bongbong” campaign during a general assembly attended by at least 70 representatives from cause-oriented groups such as Akbayan, Akbayan Youth, Kabataan Partylist, Kilusan, National Federation of Transport Workers Union, Partido Manggagawa, Piglas Kabataan, Sanlakas, Sanlakas Youth, Selda, Sentro, Black Holes of Justice Society, Student Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (STAND) Alumni, and Walden Bello for Senator Movement.
Participants were made to sign a tarpaulin which showed the face of Senator Marcos with a “no sign” symbol and the name of the coalition.
Survey Results
A recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that Senator Marcos shared the top spot with Senator Francis Escudero. The survey done from Feb. 5 to 7 showed Escudero and Marcos tied in first place with 26 percent ratings.
This is the first time this happened since SWS conducted its preference surveys in September 2015.
Schools
Meanwhile, Kerrina Atillo of STAND said they have started their “Anti-Bongbong” campaign in schools through information dissemination regarding the Martial Law era and the reign of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
She said the generation now of the so-called millennials owes its freedom to the student activists who fought for freedom of expression in the schools.
“Right now, there are no military that follows us. We enjoy the right to express ourselves. We can rant on Facebook,” she said.
A third year Business Administration student at USC, Atillo said she wanted fellow students to seek the truth and not just believe what is being circulated online that the Marcos regime had done a lot of good things to the country.
“We will not stand for Bongbong Marcos . . . He was there (Martial Law) when it happened,” she said.
Pangilinan
Former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan attended the assembly but did not stay long because of an emergency. He left a statement for the organizers to read and impart to the attendees.
He said people should always be reminded of the freedoms that they now enjoy especially the younger ones.
“People paid for their lives for those freedoms, and we cannot dishonor their memories by saying Martial Law was a good thing. It was not,” his statement read.
Pangilinan, a former student activist during Martial Law, said people must still demand accountability especially that now the Marcoses and their cronies are back “…so that not only institutions, but also individuals, who knowingly carried out illegal orders of torture and executions, will face the consequences of their actions.
This is how we can make sense of what happened, of how we can face our children and say we have done everything we can to right the wrong.”
Concert
Noel Tabasa, ABC spokesman, said they intend to create a bigger awareness for the campaign through a concert next month as a way of reaching out to the young.
The group is also doing fund-raising activities to include selling shirts and stickers with “No to Bongbong” print. Shirts are sold at P300 and stickers at P5.