When the Remulla siblings of Cavite committed 800,000 votes to presidential aspirant, Bongbong Marcos for the May 9 elections, and later publicly rebuked the 45,000 strong supporters of another presidential aspirant, Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo as “hakot,” bayaran and red tagged some of the rally attendees, netizens took to social media reacting vociferously and vowing to end the Remullas’ political dynasty in the vote-rich province.
In an interview at ANC, the man behind such self-professed ‘truths’ (that he claimed he witnessed) said they are not afraid of losing and challenged the Caviteños to try dethroning them.
It seems that the family does not want to experience an election year without a candidate—even to the point of shifting parties every so often—so they can protect their dynasty and leave a legacy for their provincemates to relish in their lifetime. But now that they drew the ire of many voters with their unkind remarks, they may just as well risk everything this 2022.
They have the power, the wealth and influence—both to the hoi polloi and the old rich clans of the province—and it would take a miracle to unseat them. Maybe, just maybe, the voters are the miracle.
Positions of power
The Remulla family has long lorded over Cavite starting from their late father, Juanito “Johnny” Remulla, a long- time governor and later his sons Jolo Revilla (vice governor since June 13, 2019) who took over from Jesus Crispin Remulla in June 2016 (who succeeded Ayong Maliksi). The patriarch invested in their education—all schooled in centers of excellence here and abroad--- a steppingstone to a credible candidacy.
Governor Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla Jr. served since 2019, previously holding the position from 2010 to 2016. He also previously served as vice governor and member of the Cavite provincial board.
Cavite (7th District) Rep. Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla has been serving since 2019 and previously held the position from 2010 to 2013. He is currently the senior deputy majority leader. He served as provincial governor from 2016 to 2019 and became the representative of the 3rd district from 2004 to 2010. He also hosted a radio program “Executive Session” on DZRH and one of the vocal opponents against ABS-CBN.
Another Remulla, Gilbert is the youngest of seven. He joined ABS-CBN news team (rose from the ranks from production assistant to reporter and a regular in the morning and evening news) and then successfully ran in the May 2001 congressional elections against his veteran rivals. Being one of the youngest, he was criticized for his youth. He ran again in 2004 and won, but lost his reelection bid for the third and final term in 2007 to then Dasmariñas Mayor Elpidio Barzaga Jr.
He ran for senator under the Nacionalista Party in the May 10, 2010 senatorial election but lost. He ran again for congressman in 2013 but this time in the 7th district since his brother Boying’s term is ending and he ran for mayor of Tagaytay but lost to Mayor Bambol Tolentino.
Board member Crispin Diego Remulla took his oath as newly-appointed councilor of Indang on January 3, 2017. Very little has been written of him but rest assured he will join the political path of his namesakes.
Another Remulla namesake, Teodorico S. Remulla was a former barangay captain. Whether or not related, Crispin Diego and Teodorico still carry the powerful name in the province.
Can they swallow the insults?
Days after Jonvic came out on Facebook with a supposed survey showing his candidate, BBM, leading by a mile wide over Robredo, Netizens questioned its veracity. He later made excuses of the survey until he deleted it completely.
He followed this on February 11 vowing to deliver to BBM 800,000 votes from Caviteños, which again the netizens from his province quickly rejected. A Jonathan Andal came out with this tweet: Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla endorses BBM-Sara tandem. Mr. President, pinapangako na naming ang Cavite para sa inyo. Panapangako naming ang plus 800,000 votes dito sa Cavite para sa inyo. Pinapangako ko ang suporta ng lahat ng mayor ng Cavite para sa inyo.”
Columnist John Nery’s tweet:
“Why would a Caviteño candidate believe Remulla’s disinfo and smear his own provincemates? 1) because he wants the Remullas to support him; 2) because he doesn’t recognize democracy in action when he sees it; 3) because he hasn’t watched enough Netflix. To believe Remulla is to insult Cavite.
And then this remark from 7th district Rep Boying Remulla: campaign rally in General Trias on Friday were paid P500 each.
Screams of “Boying sinungaling” flooded Facebook and Twitter referring to Rep. Crispin Remulla, which trended for days.
Shallowness
Remulla started by laying out an example of a political tactic that some candidates are supposedly trying to do in the 2022 elections.
“Ang pinaka-nagsa-stand out sa mga iyon eh ‘yung bandwagon. Kasi hakutan na ng tao eh. Naghahakot, tapos sabay sasabihin nila, ang daming tao. Eh, hinakot nila eh.”
Asked by ANC’s Karmina Constantino if this was what they also do, Rep. Boying said this is the usual practice. “Mga kandidato natural na may bitbit na audience (ng supporters) yan kahit saan.”
Short of red tagging VP Leni, Rep. Boying said
“her endorsement of Rep. Neri Colmenares, who is left leaning, indicates that she is getting support from the communist.”
If he is not being shallow, Rep. Boying claimed that some attendees came in via jeep (hakot) in a staging area, they wore campaign T-shirts, they had uniforms, the works. You know they were not indigenous because they wore uniforms. That’s hakot.
Remulla then volunteered, “Ang uniporme nila, siyempre, pink.” Pink is the campaign color of Robredo in her presidential bid.
For someone who finished law at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Remulla said there were student activists from the Left who joined the rally. He claimed that these activists were “trained” by the National Democratic Front (NDF), which negotiates on behalf of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Akbayan, which Remulla was referring as one of the left-leaning supporter of Leni, said it had disassociated itself from communist groups, saying it “will never close ranks with an armed non-state actor that refuses to hold itself to account and carries a long and shameful history of atrocities against the people.”
“We call on Representative Remulla to immediately stop red-tagging the broad pink movement, particularly his own constituents in Cavite. It is such unbecoming conduct from an official who is supposed to respect the will of his people,” Akbayan said.
Online, Robredo supporters called out Remulla with tweets using the hashtag #BoyingSinungaling.
Cavite is the second most vote-rich province in the 2022 elections, with over 2.3 million registered voters.
Angry responses
A journalist posted the tweet of Lhar Ry which narrated that Jasper Jean bus lines was used by the volunteers of Leni “at wala pong binayaran. Ako po ay empleyado ng Jasper Jean bus at kasama po ako sa pumunta sa grand rally. Ang katunayan pa po nyan, di rin bayad ang buses, libre po yun dahil ang may-ari ng Jasper bus ay solid KAKAMPINK.” This testimony to me is more credible than what Rep. Boying has been telling the mainstream media.
An Android user tweeted:
“Boying’s accusation (red tagging/vote buying) and Jonvic’s endorsement as if he owns the province of Cavite, should be a wake-up call for every Caviteños to eliminate the Remullas in power. Kindaya ng Pasig, kaya din ng Cavite. End the Remulla dynasty.”
Another one, in response to a tweet of @attycacai said:
“Ayan sanay kasi kayo sa pagbebenta ng prinsipyo kaya iniisip niyo ang taumbayan ay katulad niyo, bayaran.”
“That won’t happen,” small business owner Terry Madlangao, 56, told Philstar.com in Filipino in Dasmariñas City. “There are a lot of Leni supporters here and volunteers.”
For 35-year-old broadcast traffic manager Bill Kevin del Rosario, Cavite is not a Marcos country, even if Robredo lost the province in the 2016 vice-presidential race to him by over 150,000 votes.
“Caviteños have a different kind of awareness now. We are seeing that our ranks are slowly increasing,” Del Rosario told Philstar.com in Filipino.
Baseless
The Robredo People’s Council-Cavite, which helped organize the General Trias City rally, condemned Remulla and presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo Lacson’s claims about the reds.
In a statement on Sunday, the group said the accusations are malicious, damaging to their reputation, irresponsible, and baseless.
“The difference in beliefs and opinion is not a pass or license to disrespect, trample on, or belittle the capacity of Caviteños to take a stand and sacrifice for the truth, change, and progress that each of us want.”
She Pinpin-Arca said in a Facebook post said that they were only relying on people who were willing to help the Robredo campaign in Cavite. She also said no talent fees were paid to performers in the rally.
“It’s sad that even though you do what’s right, there are people who accuse you of corruption. All of those who went to the rally used their own money to support VP Leni and Senator Kiko [Pangilinan]. Not everyone is lured by money. Many people take action and do good things without expecting anything in return.
Another organizer of the Cavite rally, provincial board member Kerby Salazar, said Remulla’s accusations and Lacson’s take on the issue are worrisome.
Retweeting Lacson’s comment, Salazar said,
“And you accusing us is more worrisome. You could have asked us. Ang taas pa naman ng respeto ko sa ‘yo (I had such high respect for you).”
Can they hack it now?
With the anger their reckless statements generated, it looks like the voters in the province would be very divided this time, and this may even spell doom for the Remulla family, whose long hold in politics would be finally tested come May 9. But who would ever believe that a congressman or governor can deliver such blind votes of 800,000 unless cheating or coercion is used.
An angry people led out the dictator in 1986 and for those who seem to be following the footsteps and actuations of the dictator, their days seem to be numbered now because people are really fed up with autocrats and dynasties.