A video clip that went viral showed Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (right) refused Governor Jose Maria Zubiri (left) as he gestured to the presidential candidate to have his hand raised in the UniTeam rally in Malaybalay, Bukidnon on March 31. (screenshots from a video uploaded by Twitter user @puretuts)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Re-electionist Senator Juan Miguel ‘Migz’ Zubiri said a viral video of presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr refusing to raise the hand of his father Governor Jose Maria in a Bukidnon rally was misleading.
A video clip that went viral showed Marcos, who’s branding himself as “BBM,” refused the elder Zubiri as he gestured to the presidential candidate to have his hand raised in the UniTeam rally in Malaybalay on March 31.
The senator said there was miscommunication on the sequence of events as Marcos Jr eventually raised the hands of the Zubiris later in the program.
“It’s just a simple miscommunication between my Father and BBM on the sequence of events, which is that, after BBM speaks, he was supposed to wave the flag and then raise the hand of the local parties. Which he did, after he waved the flag,” Zubiri said in his Facebook social media account on April 2.
The Zubiris eventually raise hands with Bongbong Marcos in the UniTeam rally in Malaybalay, Bukidnon. (Photo from Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s Facebook page)
News footage and photos showed the full sequence of the event.
The raising of hands is a sign of a political endorsement from a national political figure or candidate to another candidate, usually running for an elective local government position.
The younger Zubiri said the issue on the alleged failure of Marcos to raise his father’s hand “is a part of an adversarial spin, the intention of which is to sow disunity within the UniTeam and our local political party.”
Jose Zubiri is a long-time political figure in Bukidnon, as he finishes another three consecutive terms as governor, he is running for third district representative. His son, current third district Congressman Manuel Antonio, is running for the gubernatorial post.
Juan Miguel Zubiri is under senatorial ticket of the Marcos-Duterte UnitTeam tandem, but is also running under the rival Robredo-Pangilinan senate slate.
The senator claimed in his post that one hundred thousand people witnessed the said incident and is not a big thing. But MindaNews editor Marcos Mordeno placed the crowd estimate at only 10,000. (davaotoday.com)
