The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday, March 6, asked supporters not to get tired of campaigning for her as allegations of “hakot” system, or the practice of paying off people to attend campaign rallies, went rampant after her Cavite and Bulacan sorties drew thousands of people.
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez expressed gratitude to supporters because the “people’s campaign” will not be possible without their contributions.
“Kung wala ito, hindi siguro tayo aabot sa puntong ito. At dito sa naiiwang 64 days, sana wag tayong mapagod. Sana patuloy lang (If not for this , we will not reach this point. In the remaining 64 days, may we not get tired. Let’s continue),” he said during Robredo’s weekly radio show.
The Vice President stopped hosting the show because of the campaign season.
“Iyong pagpunta sa mga venue, talagang iyong mga tao ay naglalakad, talaga sila ang nagkukusang pumunta diyan. Walang hakot-hakot sa mga rally na ito (Going to the venue, the people are really walking, they’re going on their own volition. They are not paid to join rallies),” Gutierrez added.
Robredo held successful rallies that drew thousands of supporters in Cebu and Iloilo last week. On Friday, March 4, Cavite bested other provinces with more than 47,000 attendees, while Bulacan hosted 45,000 supporters on Saturday, March 5.
READ: The battle is on: 45,000 supporters pack Robredo’s grand rally in Bulacan
But Cavite Rep. Boying Remulla, a known supporter of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., alleged in a radio show over dzRH that the supporters in “pink” were paid P500 and given rice to attend the rally in his hometown, Cavite.
Earlier, his brother, Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, promised 800,000 votes from the vote-rich province to Marcos. As a protest, Robredo’s supporters wore shirts that said “800K Minus One” at Friday’s rally.
On Twitter, the hashtag #BoyingSinungaling (Boying liar) is the top trending topic with 19,200 tweets, as of posting time.
Gutierrez said such outpouring of support for the Vice President, the lone female presidential aspirant this May 2022, was unexpected.
He stressed that many of the provinces Robredo visited were not her bailiwicks. Robredo lost in Cavite in 2016 by 150,000 votes.
“Sobra akong natutuwa na talagang makita na palaki nang palaki pa lalo ‘yung mga rally na ginagawa dahil iyan talaga ang ating magpapanalo. Iyong paglabas ng mga tao, iyong pagkilos ng ating mga supporters at volunteers, iyong walang pagod nilang pagkilos para sa kampanyang ito (I am very happy to see that the rallies are getting bigger because that will make us win. People coming out, our supporters and volunteers mobilizing, their tireless support for this campaign),” Gutierrez added.
They never thought the people’s campaign will reach this point, he said, since they’re only praying that people will at least come out to support her.
“Pero yun level na nakikita natin tingin ko walang mag-expect ng ganito maski si VP Leni (But the level we see today, I don’t think anyone can expect it, even VP Leni),” he admitted.