Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo believes that her volunteers’ fervent expression of support for her done through groundwork campaigning will be the game changer in the 2022 elections.
Her presidential bid, after all, will be different from when she last run as vice president because this time, she is running against the administration instead of with the ruling party.
Robredo ran under the Liberal Party in 2016 but the loss of former Interior secretary Mar Roxas to President Duterte meant the decimation of the erstwhile ruling party.
And though the opposition leader maintained her party's chairmanship, she is now running as an independent candidate.
“What makes the 2022 elections so different from all the previous elections is that I don’t think this is going to be a conventional campaign. Going around the country, we have seen how people are so invested that ‘yung mga tao (the people) are taking it upon themselves to really campaign for us,” she said on Monday, Dec. 6, in a press conference in Baguio City where she’s in for a two-day visit to meet supporters and attend a staff’s wedding.
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In 2016, Robredo lost in Baguio City, which gave her rival, former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a wide lead: 75,275 votes against her own’s 21,108.
This was brought about by her opponent's vaunted Solid North base, which reflects the voting preference in northern Luzon for candidates with Ilocano descent.
The Marcoses are from Ilocos Norte.
But this time, Robredo is banking on her supporters doing the groundwork for her campaign.
“Ang pakiramdam ko (I feel that) in the next six months, that is the the kind of energy that we are going to expect. It is not the top to bottom kind of campaigning pero iyong talagang (but really the) grassroots campaigning being fueled by volunteers,” she said.
“If the volunteers will be able to sustain this kind of movement malaki ‘yung pagkakataon na makaabot ‘yung mensahe sa mga kababayan natin (there’s a big chance that our message will reach our fellowmen),” the presidential hopeful added.
READ: Robredo on deluge of support: ‘Momentum is ours’
She noted that volunteers of what she calls her “people’s campaign” came from different affiliations and political groups “but are now working together for common aspirations.”
“While it remains to be seen, I am very confident that number one, we will be able to sustain it and number two, iyong pag-traverse nung dating mga problema magiging mas madali (the traversing of the past problems will be easier),” Robredo said.
Since the declaration of her presidential bid, her supporters have been printing their own stickers, posters, and tarpaulins to hang on their homes and cars. They have also organized lugaw-feeding programs and free medical and legal consultations.
In every town that Robredo visited in the past two weeks, volunteers and supporters have been welcoming her with stationary caravans, headquarters, volunteer-made murals, and other initiatives.