Thousands flocked to the Rizal Park of Koronadal City a.k.a Marbel last Saturday afternoon to attend the political rally of Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who is vying for the highest post in the country in the May 9, 2016 elections.
A Marbel-based organizer of the rally estimated that around 20, 000 people were in attendance to the one of the biggest political gatherings in the city.
“You can feel the passion of the people in their chanting of Duterte’s name and the way they raised their clenched fists in the air. You can sense from the crowd that it’s not a “hakot” by the way they participate in the rally”, said one of the locals who attended the event.
Deafening chants for Duterte started from the moment he alighted from his vehicle, roamed all the sides of the stage to raise his right fist to the crowd until he started his speech. Duterte started with a brief but enlightening history of Mindanao as a prelude to why he advocates for Federalism. Quite a lot of times he threw in curse words and dirty humors which “didn’t really sound dirty and offensive at all” according to the same local interviewed.
Duterte continued by swiftly attacking the wrongdoings of some politicians which led to the current sorry state of the country as he vowed to do his best to eliminate crime and corruption in three to six months should he win.
Duterte speeches videos will be uploaded here soon.
Aside from the local crowd, hundreds of supporters on board hundreds of vehicles paraded from General Santos City and Maguindanao (Team Duterte was in Buluan, Maguindanao prior to the Marbel rally) areas and convened at the Marbel Rizal Park . The convoys caused heavy traffic at the city center of Marbel.
Renowned girl group Mocha Girls warmed up the rally with a few songs, one was originally composed for the Duterte campaign, and by involving the crowd in the call to vote for their president.
Here are some photos taken during the rally:
You can feel the passion of the thousands in attendance by their repeated chanting of Duterte’s name and the raising of right fists!
Marbel Boy 