Leni to Bongbong: Don’t mislead

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo on Wednesday said she was upset by the attempt of her closest rival, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to mislead the public on the tightly contested vice presidential race.

Robredo, the Liberal Party vice presidential candidate, decried the presence of vehicles going around Metro Manila that carried tarpaulins accusing her of cheating to edge out the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“It’s saddening because they are taking advantage of the unfamiliarity of the people with the issue to peddle lies,” Robredo told reporters after attending a sendoff Mass for her legal team at Microtel Ayala Technohub in Quezon City.

“We all have the right to express what we want, but I hope it’s about the truth. It’s the people who are being victimized and not me. I hope this would stop,” she said in Filipino.

Robredo said she saw the videos and photographs of the vehicles visiting squatter colonies to “encourage informal settlers to join a people power,” a popular uprising that ended the tyrannical rule of Marcos’ father in 1986.

“I’m confident that the truth would come out. It’s just a matter of time. They’re now trying to float the doubts and lies,” Robredo lamented.

Along with her three daughters, the widow of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo thanked her legal team, led by veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal and Senator-elect Leila de Lima, for representing her in the canvassing of votes by the Congress sitting as the national board of canvassers (NBOC).

She expressed confidence that her lawyers would be able to protect her votes during the sessions of the NBOC at the House of Representatives.