ATENEO and La Salle truly colored the Mall of Asia pink.
Ateneo vs La Salle crowd in pink
Supporters of the Blue Eagles and the Green Archers came in droves on Holy Tuesday as they watched the two teams battle each other while also symbollically expressing their support for the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo.
A 11,124-strong audience came to the venue and a majority of which heeded the call of Ateneo president Fr. Bobby Yap, SJ and La Salle president Bro. Bernie Oca, FSC.
Although there are still some who decided to wear the familiar blue and greens, most of those who came wore different shades of pink.
There were also some "Leni!" chants heard around the venue throughout the game.
Educators from both institutions have backed the candidacy of Robredo and her vice presidential candidate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan ahead of the 2022 national elections this May.
"Leni-Kiko!" chants here at the Mall of Asia Arena in between the third and fourth quarters. Both schools' presidents encouraged supporters of VP Leni Robredo to show up and wear pink for this rivalry game. #UAAPSeason84 @spinph pic.twitter.com/UC365p5D5O
— Randolph B. Leongson (@dolphtrythis) April 12, 2022
Fans of University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas also wore pink for the same reasons earlier in the day.
This, however, isn't the first time that Ateneo and La Salle came together shedding their familiar colors, with yellow being worn at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in 2009 to honor the death of former President Cory Aquino and black in 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena detesting the extrajudicial killings in the country.
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