Solid Leni Bicol group leads pink caravan on VP’s bday

By Zyra Ponce

More than 400 bicolano youth supporters from different organization in the region joined the pink caravan at the University of Nueva Caceres (UNC) grounds in celebration of Vice President Leni Robredo’s 57th birthday last Saturday, April 23.

The event dubbed as “Saranggola ng Pag-asa” was spearheaded by Solid Leni Bicol (SLB) Youth and was also conducted on the same day in different places such as in Occidental Mindoro and other provinces nationwide. The activity comprised of various programs, which included the Music fest, Zumba and Kite Flying event.

The organizer invited some youth local performers to show their talents and the “Kakampinks” wore their pink shirts and also brought their own picnic mats and creative pink kites to show support for possibly the first Bicolano Philippine president. The event started at 3:00 PM and was also participated by Kabataan Partylist Representative Sarah Jane Elago.

According to Rogelenne Anne Borja, SLB Youth coordinator, prior to the event proper, they conducted first an early in the morning house-to house campaign in nearby municipalities in Bicol together with other youth volunteers to show support to VP Leni Robredo. Borja further added that the activity also was intended to encourage one million people who will support Robredo’s candidacy for president.

“We want to unite the youth. I think this is just more than a talent show kasi this is the way for us [youths] to get together and be happy…this is also to re-energize the youth for the upcoming activities,” Borja said.

Borja also reiterated that the youth must have a special participation to validate information in the circulating news in the social media platforms. She implied that the news peddlers must learn to fact check and identify factual information to avoid the dissemination of false news and misinformation.

Meanwhile, the Unibersidad de Sta.Isabel (USI) held the watch party for the Leni-Kiko grand rally in Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City. The rally included performances of several known Filipino artists and local bands such as Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasques, Gary Valenciano, Angel Locsin, and others. The event was attended by over 400,000 people according to organizars. It was said to be the biggest gathering of Leni-Kiko supporters.

“Tayong mga kabataan ay kasama sa majority na mga boboto ngayong eleksyon. Obligasyon po natin na bomoto ng tama. Mag fact check at tingnan kung sino ba talaga ang kailangan nating ihalal at dalhin sa Malacanang,” Borja said.