While in Bukidnon, he asked those who handed him coin banks and jars intended to be used for his campaign -- if  they would allow him to pass on their donations for those who need them most now – the flood victims. They said yes.

But former Education Secretary Florencio Abad, Jr., the campaign manager of the party, told MindaNews he and Roxas were going to Iligan to attend mass and pay a courtesy call on Mayor Lawrence Lluch. He said they will schedule another visit to Iligan and Cagayan, with Aquino.

Aquino and Roxas were supposed to be on a four-province six-city swing since Friday, visiting Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte  and the six cities therein.

On Friday, they graced the launching of the Noynoy Aquino for President Movement (NAPM) in Tagum City, the first chapter nationwide, and from there proceeded to the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City for an electoral forum.

Aquino met with urban poor representatives in Davao City Saturday morning and had lunch at the residence of supporter Jesus Ayala. They left the city for Bukidnon by 1 p.m., arriving at the  new footbath station at the boundary shortly before 3 p.m., greeted by strong winds and a downpour, just after negotiating through a thick fog that rendered visibility almost zero.

From there, the team was supposed to drop by the vacation house of 1973 Miss Universe Margie Moran-Floirendo but because of the tight schedule and the rains, former Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta requested Iso Montalvan to ask Moran if she could just come to the station. She did.

Ms Moran (l), Acosta, Aquino. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo

Acosta was told that when Aquino’s mother Corazon was campaigning for the snap elections, she traveled from Davao City to Tagum, 56 kilometers away, under heavy rains such as Saturday afternoon’s at Kitaotao.

Montalvan also told Acosta, “the weather was like this when Cory came from Cagayan de Oro to Don Carlos town” and “people didn’t mind the rain.”

Shortly after leaving Kitaotao, the rains stopped, and the skies cleared, prompting someone to ask, “is this what they referred to before as the Cory weather?”

In Barangay San Jose, Quezon, employees of the St. Claire hospital of Dr. David Pahilan gave Aquino three plastic containers of peso-coins. Beside them, an elderly woman turned over to Aquion a bamboo coin bank with a note that it came from the peso donations of the “Tejidos Bukidnon and the farmers of San Jose, Quezon, Bukidnon”  

Aquino, through Acosta speaking in Cebuano, sought permission to donate the funds, originally intended to help his campaign, to the victims of Typhoon Ondoy in Metro Manila. The crowd said yes.

A schedule in Valencia City’s old terminal had to be cancelled because of time constraints so those who waited were asked instead to proceed to Maramag’s bus terminal where a makeshift stage, from a container van truck was set up.

Aquino and Roxas in Maramag. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo

Jocelyn Poliquit, 38, mother of five, from Purok 5-A in Maramag and a utility worker from the Bukidnon Development Multi-Purpose Cooperative, said she likes the team because Aquino and Roxas are “buotan” (good).

She said she hopes she could approach them and ask for a racket for lawn tennis for her two children.

But even if she goes home without a racket, Poliquit said she would still vote for Aquino and Roxas.

Coring Abao, 53, a teacher of the Kalilangan Central Elementary School, said the two are “good for our government.”

Another teacher, Angela Reyes, 45, mother of three from the Maramag Central Elementary School said 30 of her students in Grade 6 were practicing a dance when a classmate came to say Aquino and Roxas were coming. They stopped the practice and proceeded to the bus terminal.

She said she wants her students to see the two senators in person because they have been introduced to them through photos.  

Reyes said she wants Aquino and Roxas to lead the government because “dili sila corrupt” (they’re not corrupt) and “mabuti ang ugali” (are generally good). Both voted for Aquino’s mother in 1986.

At the Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ in Malaybalay City, Aquino and Roxas and party  were prayed over and blessed before given a tour of the Museum of  Filipino Liturgical Vestments designed by Gang Gomez now known as Benedictine Dom Martin. Gomez was a famous designer who joined the congregation.  

Dom Martin presented to Senator Aquino and Roxas a section in the museum featuring a 2008 painting of  Aquino’s mother and a picture of her in black and white, giving the painting to the Benedictine monk.

From the Monastery, the party moved towards Bukidnon, but stopped along the highway in Malaybaly where a neighborhood crowd waving two yellow flags had waited since 4 p.m. for them to pass.

Cristeta Vasaya, 60, who was carrying one of the flags, voted for Aquino’s mother, Corazon, in 1986, said she will vote for the son and Roxas because they are both “honest” and “religious.”

Eutiquio Vasaya, Cristeta’s husband, also waited.

They screamed and rushed towards Aquino when they saw him open the vehicle’s window. As soon as they were done with their handshaking and the chance at being photographed,  they moved back but not Eutiqio, a multicab driver who, along that poorly-lit side of the highway, emptied his pockets and as he opened the palm of the bewildered Aquino, dropped the coins on his palm “para sa kampanya" (for the campaign).

Eutiqio said he did not know how much he gave. But he gave all his coins.

In Davao City, Anakpawis, which describes itself as a “party of the toiling masses,” said in a press statement that after the “high-profile Mindanao tour” of Aquino and Roxas, “farmers and workers’ group Anakpawis demands that their platform should include answers to the economic woes confronting farmers and agricultural farm workers in the region.”

“They came and, indeed, they conquered. But we urge Noynoy and Mar to make clear their platform on agrarian reform and their stand on the massive conversion of agricultural lands into foreign agribusiness plantations in Davao region,” Pedro Arnado, regional coordinator of Anakpawis said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

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