IN what could be one of the biggest surprises in the 2022 Philippine elections, thousands upon thousands of Tarlaqueños lined up the streets to welcome presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. and the UniTeam slateSaturday morning, proving that Tarlac City is ‘yellow’ no more.

The UniTeam’s visit comes weeks after Kris Aquino’s public appearance in the city endorsing Leni Robredo and confirming that the true color of the latter remains unabashedly yellow.

Marcos started his caravan near MetroTown Mall in the city proper and trudged slowly due to the large crowds eagerly awaiting to see Marcos.

Thousands of residents emerged from their houses and lined up on both sides of the streets as Marcos’ caravan passed by, many chanting “BBM!, BBM!” as the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer tried mightily by waving his hands to acknowledge the greetings of their supporters.

A former ‘kakampink,’ a middle-aged man, eagerly displayed his placard, “Ex Kakampink 4 BBM-Sara.”

The caravan lasted for more than two hours, with huge crowds gathering around Marcos every step of the way.

Following the caravan, Marcos held a mini-rally in Tarlac city and mayor Cristy Angeles as well as other local government officials there.

Marcos, who seemed to be nursing a sore throat, was astonished at the massive crowd that gathered to attend the supposed ‘mini-rally.’

“Iba pala dito sa Tarlac. Ang nakalagay sa schedule namin mini-rally daw ito, Ito pala’y mini-rally lang sa inyo ito,” Marcos said.

Marcos thanked the Tarlaqueños for their warm welcome to the UniTeam and encouraged them to heed his call for unity.

“Maraming, maraming salamat sa inyong napakainit na salubong na ibinigay ninyo sa UniTeam, sa tambalang Marcos-Duterte,” Marcos added.

The vast crowd started chanting, “BBM!, BBM!” following Marcos’ statement but soon spontaneously shifted to “Panalo ka na!, Panalo ka na!” reverberated throughout the venue.

After the mini-rally, Marcos would meet with various sectoral representatives in Tarlac to discuss the issues affecting the province that will be addressed by the UniTeam tandem when they win in the upcoming polls.

Marcos was fresh off from his successful Miting de Avance with Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) at Hilton Hotel in Pasay City yesterday.

In the event, Marcos bared his plans for OFWs and assured them that the BBM-Sara tandem would advocate for improving their welfare and their families.

The hybrid Miting de Avance was streamed online through various social media platforms, where thousands of OFWs viewed it from different parts of the world.