Roco also renewed his call on his rivals, President Arroyo and Fernando Poe Jr., challenging Poe, in particular, to "be a man" and engage him in a public debate. Poe has accepted the challenge, but requested that the debate should be held in the slums of Tondo, Manila where there is a big concentration of urban poor residents.
"We will show the contrast between the other parties and Alyansa," Roco said in an impromptu news conference in Burnham Park, the starting point of the Alyansa candidates’ march to the wet market. "Doon sila sa mayaman, dito kami sa wet market, sa mga ordinaryong tao, sapagkat nandito ang kahirapan. Ang nasasagasaan ng development ay ang wet market. (They are there with the rich, and we are here in the wet market where ordinary people are, because it is where poverty is and it is the victim of development)."
Asked to comment on his rivals’ response to his challenge that the three of them engage in a public debate, Roco said: "Gusto ni Da King, doon daw sa mahihirap. Pumili siya. Kung gusto niya sa Payatas, sa Payatas tayo. O kaya sa Home Along Da Riles, sa Caloocan, Del Pan o Parola. . . Si Gloria naman, handa rin daw siya. Pumili din siya kung saan niya gustong makipagdebate. Kung gusto nila, sa umaga, Roco versus Da Queen, sa A, B, C crowd. Sa hapon, Roco versus Da King, sa D, E market. Basta may debate, sapagkat importante sa demokrasya ang debate (Da King wants where the poor are. He can choose. If he wants in Payatas, in Payatas. Or Home along Da Riles in Caloocan, Del Pan or Parola … . Gloria, on the other hand is ready. She can choose where she wants to hold a debate. If they want, the debate will be Roco versus Da Queen in the morning, before A,B, C crowd; in the afternoon, Roco versus Da King for D, E market. As long as there is a debate, because that is important to a democracy)."
As for Poe’s earlier response to the debate, Roco challenged the actor to show something to the electorate other than his movies.
After the news conference, Roco did the rounds in the public market but was barred from entering a cooperative building where he had wanted to address the vendors and marketgoers.
Proceeding to the third floor of the market building where the carinderias are located, Roco and his fellow Alyansa candidates later had lunch with about 20 children who accompanied them throughout the market.
This afternoon, Roco and the Alyansa team will join the festivities on Session Road and other parts of Baguio City. "We are the flower people," Roco said, wearing his trademark floral shirt, as he related the Flower Festival to the environment program of his Aksyon Demokratiko party as stated in its "Agenda of Hope."
