“WOW, Nueva Ecija.”

Thus said presidential survey frontrunner, UniTeam bet former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. after he arrived in this city and spoke to some 300,000 Novo Ecijanos gathered under the scorching heat of the sun during their grand proclamation rally held at the Emilio Vergara Highway in Bgy. Sta. Arcadia on Friday here.

To date, it was the biggest crowd that ever graced a UniTeam political sortie that was held in an open field in broad daylight with barely ten days left before election day, local organizers said.

Marcos Jr., deeply elated with the super-warm reception he got from the thousands of Novo Ecijanos, who endured the afternoon heat and stayed on to watch and listen to his words of wisdom, again reiterated his election battle cry for all Filipinos to embrace unity and cooperation amid the pandemic and the crisis brought by it.

Seeing the huge crowd turnout, Marcos Jr. got carried away by his emotions and did not notice he had already spoken more than his allotted time of five-to-eight minutes.

The presidential survey leader also thanked the local organizers and the Novo Ecijanos for a very successful grand proclamation rally held at a 16-hectare property owned by the SM Group of Companies.

“Hindi ko sukat akalain na kahit ganito kainit ang panahon dumating ang tao nang ganito sobrang dami,” said Marcos Jr.

Before he arrived at the venue here, Marcos Jr. was initially welcomed by the gubernatorial aspirant and Palayan City Mayor Rianne J. Cuevas, her businessman-husband, Vicente “Bong” Cuevas III, Rianne’s running mate, Edward Thomas F. Joson, and other local candidates at Moments-The Event’s Place for a luncheon meeting.

UniTeam bets who went to woo Novo Ecijanos and speak about their platforms were senatorial bets, Atty. Larry Gadon, actor Robin Padilla, Senators Migz Zubiri and Sherwin Gatchalian, Atty. Harry Roque, and Jinggoy Estrada, who was represented by his daughter.

Former MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) chair Benhur Abalos Jr., BBM-Sara tandem’s campaign manager, also joined the grand rally.

In attendance also were Cabanatuan City Mayor Myca Elizabeth Vergara, her father, Vice Mayor Jay Vergara, and his wife, Rep. Ria Vergara.

Due to the sweltering heat, it was learned that about 50 individuals suffered heat exhaustion and were first-aid treated immediately in stand-by ambulances at the site.

The Cuevas camp said that more than 350,000 bottles of mineral water have also been ordered for the attendees’ consumption, excluding the several gallons of water in 15 drinking stations that were put up on the site that have to be refilled twice during the event.

This province is ranked 11th among the country’s top-most vote-rich provinces, with 1,541,685 total voters.