Aspiring president Vice President Leni Robredo admitted that she cannot keep up with her opponent former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in terms of campaign resources and "political might" but she remains confident on her bid backed by volunteerism.
"Admittedly, hindi natin kayang sabayan ang Marcos sa isang conventional campaign. Wala tayong sinabi sa resources nila. Wala tayong sinabi sa machinery nila. Wala tayong sinabi sa political might nila (we cannot keep up with Marcos' in a conventional campaign. We are nothing compared to their resources. We are nothing compared to their machinery. We are nothing compared to their political might)," Robredo said during a town hall meeting with engineers on Tuesday, Jan. 11.
"Pero meron– meron tayong wala sila, at yun yung sigasig ng volunteers (But we have something that they don't have, and that's the perseverance of our volunteers)," she added.
The Vice President said this situation is no longer new to her as she also went up against powerful opponents in her previous bids in 2013 against a "well-entrenched political dynasty" and in 2016 where she started from the bottom of poll surveys.
She believes that what her candidacy lacked in 2016 is now something that powers her presidential bid which is the "commitment of volunteers."
"Wala ako nito (I don't have something like this) before, and I think ito ‘yung magdadala sa ’kin sa kapanalunan (this will lead me to victory)," the aspiring President said.
Robredo also admitted that she have already asked different groups to conduct ground and heart-to-heart campaigning as she cannot do the same in social media, saying "it's hard to penetrate so we need to do ground campaigning in our own networks."
"We know how social media works. Kahit ang dami na natin ngayon, ang dami nilang (Even though we are many now, they also have a lot of) fake accounts. Kaya hindi natin nape-penetrate yung kanilang mga bubbles dahil (The reason why we cannot penetrate their bubbles because) we know that social media works on algorithms," she said.
"Ako– ako, sobrang hopeful ako. Sobrang hopeful ako na kahit dehado tayo ngayon, kakayanin ulit natin ito, basta focused lang yung lahat ng energies natin (I am very hopeful. I am very hopeful that even though we are behind now, we can do this again, as long as all our energies are focused)," she added.
The Vice President further said that the five months away from the upcoming elections is enough time for her to catch up.