An estimated crowd of over 300,000 cheered for Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan at the ‘miting de avance’ in Naga City Friday night.(VPLR Media Bureau)
NAGA CITY—Three days before the May 9 elections, Bicolandia joyously sent off its favorite daughter, presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo, as she heads into the final stretch of the campaign.
On Friday, Robredo’s supporters pulled out all the stops in a “miting de avance” along Magsaysay Avenue in Naga City where an estimated 306,000 “Kakampinks” welcomed her.
There, her fellow Bikolanos promised to deliver 90 percent or even more of their vote, in a bid to match the so-called Solid North vote expected for her rival, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
‘Gabos kung gabos’
Speaking in her native tongue, Robredo said: “You know how difficult this fight will be. It’s facing going up against a wall, fortified by politicians…But I have faith that no matter how big their machinery or largesse, they’re no match against you.”
“Ubos kung ubos, gabos kung gabos,” she said, alluding to the local party’s battlecry for a landslide win.
But Robredo did not go home just to court their vote.
Now at the homestretch of the campaign, she mostly thanked them for standing by her side during her most challenging times as a politician, and for defending her honor when she was being pelted by hate and fake news.
(VPLR Media Bureau)
“You know me best,” she told the crowds in Sorsogon, Albay and Naga. “Many of you even know me personally as your friend, neighbor, classmate, student and playmate. This is where I grew up and where I set my roots.”
The simple life
In Naga City, the Robredos’ hometown, the vice president reminisced her life before she entered politics: how she and her late husband, former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, led simple lives among Nagueños.
When Jesse had died, she recalled how she was suddenly called to run for congress against the powerful Villafuertes in 2013.
With no money or resources, Robredo often had to take the stage without the support of local politicians.
But her late husband’s good name carried her to victory, she said. And she carried his brand of “tsinelas” (slip-ons) leadership with her to the vice presidency—which brought on “one of the most difficult chapters of my life,” she said.
(VPLR Media Bureau)
Fighting fake news
In the past six years, Robredo has been the target of disinformation and fake news stemming from an allegation that she cheated in the 2016 vice presidential race.
This claim, later junked by the Supreme Court for having no merit, kept cropping up as Marcos Jr. kept warning his supporters to guard their votes.
Before, Robredo said, she didn’t feel the need to “dignify” lies about her.
“But over the years I realized what a mistake that was. When a lie gets repeated over and over, many people end up getting deceived.”
Local support
But unlike before, Robredo enjoys the full support not just of ordinary Bikolanos but of local political leaders as well.
Naga Mayor Nelson Legacion promised her that they would all campaign for the Leni-Kiko tandem up until the very last hour.
Former Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya, who is now running for governor, said he believes Robredo “was the light amid the darkness that we have been all waiting for.”