CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte on Sunday said he sees the administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas gaining a foothold in vote-rich Bicol with its pre-weekend campaign swing in Camarines Sur drawing an estimated 80,000 to the sortie where President Marcos appealed for support for Alyansa’s senatorial slate that he described as his “dream team.”

“Proof that Alyansa has gained a foothold in vote-rich Bicol is the mammoth crowd, estimated at 80,000, that attended the campaign rally here before the weekend where President Marcos sought voter support for his powerhouse slate that he dubbed his ‘dream team’ in the incoming Senate,” said Villafuerte, once a three-term governor of the province, of the Friday sortie at the Kaogma Grounds in the capital municipality of Pili.

The rally at the sprawling Kaogma Grounds, where major events in the province are usually held, drew the biggest crowd thus far for Alyansa’s 12-member senatorial ticket a month into this campaign season, said Villafuerte, who is president of the National Unity Party (NUP).

“The record rally crowd is testament to the formidable support that the President enjoys among us CamSur folk, as we appreciate and value his Administration’s continuous efforts to energize our province and its people,” Villafuerte said.

He pointed out that the President has visited CamSur to kick-off local projects three times already since he assumed office in 2022, including a visit to dislocated villagers and provide aid to them just after supertyphoon Kristine hit Bicol and other parts of the country in October 2024, unleashing the worst flooding ever in the province.

Villafuerte said he expects stronger local support for the Alyansa candidates after several of them expressed support in their sorties for CamSur’s top transport and connectivity concerns, including the long-delayed upgrade of the Naga Airport to further boost tourism in the region, and the revival of the suspended PNR-South Long Haul or “Bicol Express” rail project that will cut travel time from a half-day to just four hours from Metro Manila to—passing CamSur—Albay or Sorsogon.

The NUP is the second biggest power bloc in the House, after the ruling Lakas-CMD led by Speaker Martin Romualdez, and belongs to the Alyansa coalition that was put up last year by President Marcos himself ahead of the national and local polls on May 12.

Bicol boasts an estimated 4 million registered voters for the summer balloting, of whom 1.34 million are in CamSur.

In a statement prior to the CamSur rally, Alyansa campaign manager and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco cited the “strategic importance of Camarines Sur, given its economic strength, population size and role in national politics.”

“As the third wealthiest province in the Philippines and the largest in Bicol by population and land area, Camarines Sur is a crucial battleground for Alyansa,” Tiangco said.

Tiangco said the Alyansa slate’s platform is “focused on economic growth, infrastructure and agricultural development—all of which are key priorities for Camarines Sur.”

During the Kaogma rally, President Marcos noted that, “Madaling sabihin dekalidad po ang ating mga kandidato. Pag pinagsama mo, e halos ito na yung dream team. Para sa pulitika, ito na ang dream team para sa Senado.”

“Ako po, sa palagay ko — ako na ang pinaka mapalad na Pangulo kung sila ay mahalal lahat. Dahil kung yan ang kasamahan ko, napakarami po nating magagawa, napakarami po kayong mararamdaman na benepisyo sa national government,” added the President.

The gold-winning men’s basketball team of the United States in the Spain Summer Olympics in 1992 was nicknamed the “Dream Team” as it was the first US team composed of active National Basketball Association (NBA) players, including Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Alyansa’s “dream team,” meanwhile, in alpahebtical order, is made up of ex-Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos; Makati City Mayor Abby Binay; Senators Bong Revilla and Pia Cayetano, ex-Sen. Ping Lacson, Senators Lito Lapid and Imee Marcos; ex-Senators Manny Pacquiao and Tito Sotto; Sen. Francis Tolentino; and Reps. Erwin Tulfo and Camille Villar.

Villafuerte recalled that the NUP entered last September into the Alyansa coalition with the President’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), along with other allied major political parties, in preparation for the 2025 mid term polls.

This coalition was the “logical conclusion,” he said, of the NUP’s two-year close working partnership with the Chief Executive and his Administration, in pursuit of Mr. Marcos’ Bagong Pilipinas vision of better lives for all Filipinos.

He said that the NUP, as the second biggest political group in the 19th Congress, has “played a significant role in helping our President and his Administration pursue and attain deep and fundamental transformations over the past two years, leading to a robust post-pandemic recovery.”

The poll victory of Alyansa’s senatorial bets along with the congressional and local candidates backed by the NUP will enable the NUP “to work together with the PFP and other alliance partners on getting closer to the President’s vision of a Bagong Pilipinas that promises a robust and inclusive growth and development for all Filipinos.”

Villafuerte and the NUP have backed a majority of the Administration’s priority bills that have been passed by the House of Representatives and enacted into laws by the President.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco