'People's campaign': Robredo supporters set up online donation portal rained pink in the provinces of Bicol, Cebu, Laguna, and Rizal this week as supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo organized parades, caravans, and motorcades that emboldened the vice president enough to describe her supporters as the most committed and passionate she has ever seen.
“Let’s keep the energy flowing!! The momentum is definitely ours,” Robredo said in a Facebook post on Monday, Oct. 18, while also posting photos of the “Pink Caravan,” as she called it.
“I have participated in so many elections for more than 30 years already -either as a candidate or a staunch supporter of my husband, and some other candidates. But I have never seen a group as committed, as passionate, and as energetic as our volunteers now,” she stated.
Over the weekend, there were caravans and motorcades in six provinces in Bicol, Robredo’s home region, as well as in Cebu, Laguna, and Rizal.
The motorcade in Bicol drew 4,000 vehicles while the one in Cebu had 200 vehicles joining the caravan. Earlier, after she announced her candidacy, there were also motorcades in Iloilo and Bacolod.
READ: Local support for Robredo swells
Around 300 vehicles joined the motorcade in Iloilo, a province that was once a bailiwick of Liberal Party (LP), which Robredo chairs.
“All of these are completely volunteer-driven and kanya kanyang pa print ng (they each printed their own) tarps, stickers and shirts,” the Vice President said.
Robredo has been vocal in saying that she doesn’t have the machinery and resources that other candidates have, but her supporters did not let her down by launching a crowdfunding campaign for her and printing their own stickers, tarpaulins, t-shirts, and tote bags.
A group on Facebook has been sharing high-resolution files of images that supporters can use to have their own collaterals printed.
READ: 'People's campaign': Robredo supporters set up online donation portal
The Vice President has consistently lagged in presidential preference surveys but her supporters have been actively spreading awareness about her work in the past week with most of them painting their profile photos and news feed pink, the color that Robredo will reportedly use once the campaign season begins.
Pink, she said, stands for hope and has also been the color of global protest.
For years, Robredo has suffered from the term “dilawan (yellow),” used as an insult by supporters of President Duterte. Yellow is the color of the Liberal Party because of the late former President Benigno Aquino III’s parents, democracy icons Corazon Aquino and Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.