OPM singer and activist Jim Paredes shared a heckling experience during the Leni-Kiko people’s rally in Baguio City.
In a tweet, Paredes said that he was in Baguio City on May 4 for the grand rally of VP Leni Robredo and Sen. Kiko for the people of Cordillera Autonomous Region.
After the event, he stayed with other performers to stage a flash mob. He said they were told to get ready for possible hostile reactions, and true enough, they encountered one heckler.
“Was in Baguio for Leni’s rally and stayed on to do flash mobs. I was told to be ready because we could get hostile reactions. We got only one. Let me tell you Awan ti solid north.”
https://twitter.com/Jimparedes/status/1522364123182690304
Paredes’ experience was not the first for the Leni-Kiko supporters.
On April 27, 2022, Vice President’s daughter Jillian Robredo together with Baguio for Leni volunteers, were also heckled during their Baguio Public Market campaign.
Video of the incident quickly made rounds on social media, alleging that Jillian provoked one of the Baguio residents, that resorted to heckling.
However, Robredo People’s Council Baguio volunteers clarified that the heckling was unprovoked as they were only talking to market vendors when suddenly an individual started shouting at them.
“Contrary to the comments on social media, the verbal attack was unprovoked, and the edited/spliced videos that show otherwise do not indicate what truly happened,” the group said.
Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Benjie Magalong quickly apologized to Jillian on behalf of the Baguio people following the incident.
“We are sorry that incidents like this took place. Rudeness has never been standard conduct of Baguio folks. We can assure Ms. Robredo that such a physical outburst by that person is not representative of Baguio’s legendary hospitable conduct, especially to visitors and guests.
“We sincerely hope that Ms. Jillian and her team of supporters will regard this unfortunate incident as purely an isolated one that took place in a momentary outburst of political misdemeanor,” he said.
