Updated: November 1, 2021, 6:30 P.M.
Vancouver, B.C.
More cities join caravan
By Charmaine Janis Rodriguez
More centres are joining the Canada Caravan of Hope for Leni as the event is coming up on Sunday, November 14, 2021.
Inspired by the initiative of groups holding the Pink Caravan of Hope in different areas in the Philippines, Global Filipinos for Leni-Canada Chapter, BC Kami Kay Leni Group and Global Pinoy Diaspora Canada have banded together to organize the campaign caravan for Robredo and Pangilinan.
Robredo-Pangilinan supporters in the cities of Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton and Montreal will join the event.
Real forces on the ground
The organizers in each area just networked recently, indicating that these are real forces on the ground and not “robots” engaging in social media, said Rom Cannen of Victoria and the organizer of BC Kami Kay Leni. He will lead the Victoria group while Treenee Lopez of Global Pinoy Diaspora Canada will head the Mainland Vancouver group.
“I came up with a strategic plan with the target of deploying activities for the campaign. The caravan is just one of them. When I heard that Mainland Vancouver is doing one and the other provinces as well, I realized that I enabled a movement,” Cannen said of the people’s initiative.
“This is our sure way of educating voters in choosing the right candidates to vote for, for a higher voter turnout and for the false propaganda to stop,” Treenee Lopez added.
In British Columbia, the groups will converge at Memorial South Park on 41st Avenue, Prince Albert, Vancouver and will end at Minoru Park, 7191 Granville Avenue, Richmond after the caravan.
A short but promising program will follow at Minoru Park, Lopez said.
Roy Buenaventura, one of the persons behind the movement, said the color pink represents “care and love” and is consistent with Vice President Robredo’s genuine care and love for the poor, like her initiative the Angat Buhay Foundation which helped uplift the lives of the poor and was very instrumental in bringing the much-needed help for health workers and indigent Filipinos during the pandemic.
“Like the Pink Wednesday when we do good deeds, like donating to institutions or doing volunteer work, we encourage everyone to do their share in helping others during the Caravan of Hope,” he said.
“By doing the Caravan of Hope, it sends a strong message of unity among Filipinos clamoring for change in the next government. They want to bring back decency in government, improve basic services, reduce poverty, improve the economy to reduce unemployment, and overall, to fight this pandemic,” said Von Canton of Toronto.
The Toronto leg of the caravan will start at 1441 Clark Avenue West, Thornhill, Ontario and will end in Earl Bales Park at 4169 Bathurst Street, Toronto. It will start at 10 a.m.
“I’m showing my support to VP Leni as the next President because she is the only candidate who is qualified for the job considering her track record and unblemished reputation. The Philippines needs a healing and unifying leader who will restore democracy and public confidence,” said Dante Aviso of Winnipeg.
The Winnipeg group will have the Kildonan Park as meeting and culminating venue of the activity, which will start at 12:30 p.m.
According to Philippine Commission on Election records, the 2016 presidential elections had one of the highest voter turnout for overseas Filipinos, with 430,695 showing up to cast their votes.
In the said elections, the presidential preference of overseas Filipinos was Rodrigo Duterte. Meanwhile, Sen. Bongbong Marcos gained the highest number of votes for vice president in the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa, but not the Americas. Robredo won in North and Latin America, Comelec records show.
The caravan is open for everyone and Lopez hopes other cities in Canada will also organize caravans on the same date.
Organizers are encouraging participants to car pool, bring their own picnic baskets, drinks and chairs.
For those who are interested to join, they may contact Treenee Lopez (6047739192), Rene (604-6036410), Tom (604-8178000), Dennis (778-9261975), Amado III (604-2449528), Victoria (604-7615814) and Mai (250-8842497) for British Columbia as well as Ofelia (778-8381087) for those in Victoria specifically.
For participants in Edmonton/Calgary (Alberta), they may contact Manny (780-8020848) or Joseph (780-2378426).
For those who are in Toronto (Ontario), they may contact Von (905-7816165).