The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday, October 24, belied reports that “caravan kits” were given away during the volunteer-driven nationwide motorcade held during the weekend for her and Senator Kiko Pangilinan in relation to the 2022 elections.
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez said that they have been receiving photos and reports of an alleged “caravan kit” given away during the motorcade. The kit supposedly contains a P100 bill, a snack bar, campaign stickers, pink face masks, and a letter encouraging the recipient to vote for Robredo.
“Happy Sunday! Happy post-Caravan day din. Sa sobrang solid kahapon, umagang-umaga may nakarating sa aming ganitong pics. Fake news na naman. Asahan natin ang ganitong paninira habang lumalakas at dumadami tayo (Because we are super solid yesterday, we received these pics this morning. Fake news again. Let us expect these kinds of defamation as we grow stronger in numbers),” he said in a Twitter post.
“Tuloy lang tayo sa pagmamahal, mga #kakampinks. Love u ol (Let us continue loving, #kakampinks. Love you all),” Gutierrez added, following his tweet with a pink ribbon.
READ: Robredo's 'kakampink' hold nationwide parade; #LeniKiko2022 trends on Twitter
Former Ifugao Rep. and senatorial aspirant Teddy Baguilat Jr. maintained that Team Robredo-Pangilinan, also known as TROPA, does not buy votes.
“Paninira moves. Di nanggaling sa TROPA yan ha. Di mamimili ng boto ang #Kakampinks. Gusto namin palitan ang bulok na sistema ng pamumulitika tulad ng vote buying. Yan ang pangako ni Leni sa taumbayan (Slander moves. That did not come from TROPA. #Kakampinks do not buy votes. We want to change the rotten system of politics like vote buying. That’s the promise of Leni to the people),” he tweeted.
He included in his post a screenshot of a private message where someone was asking if Robredo already heard the news about the vote-buying accusations. The screenshot included a photo where Robredo’s and Pangilinan’s camp supposedly gave out P20.
The word “kakampink” is the combination of the words “kakampi (ally)” and pink, which has become the unofficial campaign color of the Vice President for the upcoming polls.
One of Robredo’s volunteer groups, Dapat Si Leni, also denied the accusations that they gave P100 away during the motorcade.
“Hindi po ganyan ang trabaho natin. Hehe. Pangalawa, wala na pong mararating ang 100. Sa taas ng presyo ng gasolina dahil sa administrasyong ito, abunado pa po tayong lahat (That’s not how we work. Hehe. Secondly, 100 will not get you anywhere),” the group’s Twitter page said.
A Twitter user named Manuel Mejorada posted a photo showing that he apparently received a “kit” from Robredo’s camp with a P100 bill, some snacks, and campaign stickers.
This was shared by blogger Wer2GoPH on Facebook.
Robredo’s supporters flocked the Twitter and Facebook posts, encouraging others to mass report the post as fake news. They also said they wouldn’t need to be paid P100 when they had to spend more than three hours on the road for the caravan.
The P100, they added, was not enough to cover the fuel expenses incurred during the hours-long motorcade.
More than 10,000 vehicles in around 50 cities nationwide held the Caravan of Hope for Robredo and Pangilinan. The motorcade was done to express their support and campaign for the opposition’s tandem.
READ: Robredo thanks supporters after ‘volunteer-driven’ caravan; ’Tuloy lang tayo’
Some other cities such as Kawit and General Trias in Cavite province also held a motorcade for Robredo and Pangilinan on Sunday, Oct. 24.