Street party — not miting de avance — for Miriam

While the other presidential candidates are gearing up for their final show of force in a “miting de avance” to be held hours from now, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago opted to spend the day with her youth volunteers in a street party.

In a phone interview with GMA News Online Saturday morning, Santiago’s media relation officer Arveen Patria said the senator will not be holding any miting de avance, and has in fact will just be staying at home in Quezon City.

However, in an advisory sent to reporters past noon Saturday, Patria said the senator decided to join her supporters in a street party in West Triangle in Quezon City at 5 p.m.

Santiago’s “Youth for Miriam” movement had earlier scheduled the street party amid the expected absence of the senator.

Patria said Santiago’s decision to spend time with her youth volunteers in the final hours of the campaign period was a way for her to give importance to the youth vote.

At  the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila Thursday, Santiago said a miting de avance as “useless”.

“Miting de avance or the supposed show of force is useless as those who attend have been bought by the candidate,” Santiago said.

Throughout the 90-day campaign period, Santiago opted to hold sorties in universities and campuses banking on the power of the youth vote in changing the outcome of the elections.

Santiago counted on the youth in her first attempt for the presidency in 1992.

Santiago had been consistently at the tail of the five-way race based on pre-election surveys of Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia.

Santiago, however, has been questioning the credibility of the two pollsters’ commissioned surveys, claiming irregularity in their methods, particularly the exclusion of her name in some of the questionnaires.

Santiago pointed out in non-commissioned poll surveys and mock elections held in various universities, she was consistently emerging as the top choice among the presidential bets.

Since the start of the campaign period on February 9, Santiago hold a total of only 12 campaign sorties mostly held in universities.

Santiago and her running mate, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., campaigned together only in five occasions — at their campaign kick-off in Ilocos Norte on February 9, at launching of the Youth for Miriam, volunteer movement at the Ynares  Sports Arena, Pasig City on February 14 and in three campus tours at the University of the Philippines Visayas in Iloilo City on April 13, St. Louis University in Baguio City on April 16 and at the Bulacan State University in Malolos City on April 18.

Last Thursday night, Marcos held his miting de avance in Mandaluyong City sans Santiago who earlier delivered a speech at the UST.

Marcos, who has been topping the pre-election surveys for the vice presidential post, earlier admitted that given the health condition of Santiago, they really did not plan to campaign together at all times. He also said it would also be practical for them to campaign separately to cover more areas.

It was in July 2014 when Santiago announced that she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. However, in October last year, a few days before the filing of certificates of candidacy, she said her cancer cells have already regressed.

It can be remembered that Santiago went on a one-month campaign hiatus in March, which she later revealed was due to taking a clinical trial for a new, unnamed anti-cancer pill.

Patria said Santiago is set to vote at 7a.m. on Monday at a polling precinct inside the La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City. — APG, GMA News