After his successful initial campaign in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos took his vice presidential caravan to La Union and won the support of the Ortega clan.
San Fernando City mayor Pablo Ortega and his brothers Mario and Pepe, who are running for governor and vice governor, respectively, accompanied the senator. The three brothers are running against the sons of current Gov. Manoling Ortega, whose sons Francisco “Pacoy,” Alfred and Mannix are running for governor, vice mayor and congressman, respectively.
“We are now on our third day of the ‘Solid North’ campaign. We are gearing to extend it to ‘Solid Philippines’,” Marcos told his audience in San Juan town.
On Wednesday, Marcos acted as a peacekeeper in Bangued town in Abra province after he successfully gathered the clashing families of the Valeras and Bersamins together.
Abra is considered an election hotspot by the Commission on Elections.
“Talagang napakainit ng pagsalubong at syempre nakakatuwa makita na mukhang mabubuo ulit ang Solid North at dito mag-start ang pagkakaisa (The people really welcomed us and I am happy to see the unification of the Solid North. Hopefully, this will be the start of national unity),” Marcos told reporters.
“Natutuwa ako na nakarating kami dito at nakasama natin lahat ng iba’t-ibang kandidato.
At ang magandang development dito ang magkabilang panig sa pulitika ay sumasama kaya very encouraging ang naging bisita dito sa Bangued [I am glad to have come here and we were able to mingle with the candidates. What is good is that even warring sides came together during our visit in Bangued],” he added.
Provincial Board Member Brix Bachiller told Marcos that leaders from different political affiliations waited for the senator to show their support for his candidacy.