The senatorial candidates of the Team Leni-Kiko are expecting more “dirty tricks and propaganda” against their camp as the campaign for this year’s elections heats up.
They made the statement in the wake of allegations that Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan engaged in “hakot” system, or the practice of paying people to attend rallies, and their campaign is supported by communist groups.
“They are feeling the heat that’s why they are going full throttle with propaganda to counter the vice president’s advance,” senatorial aspirant Alex Lacson said in a statement.
He noted the “traditional politician’s strategy to pull down the leading rival,” referring to the “red-tagging” and the other dirty tricks that are thrown at Robredo this week to destroy her good name and reputation.
“Maliwanag na 'yan ay propaganda (That’s a clear propaganda),” he said. “Wala silang mahanap sa aming kandidatong si VP Leni, sa kanyang pagkatao, sa kanyang track record, kaya maghahanap ng ibang issue (They can’t find any negative issue against our candidate VP Leni, in her character, track record, so they are looking for other issues),” the lawyer added.
Former Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, who is also vying for a Senate seat under the Robredo-Pangilinan slate, said the dirty tricks started as early as 2016 to divert public attention from the real issues.
He added that their camp has “no alliance” with the communists even as they are open to “peace talks to resolve the insurgency problem.”
Baguilat believes the massive turnout of people attending the Leni-Kiko rallies shows that the propaganda of rivals does not gain “traction.”
“The more they put her down, the more that people are seeing her,” he said.
Former congressman Erin Tañada, campaign manager of the Leni-Kiko senatorial slate, said that “only aliens would mistake the hip, happy, and huge pink rallies for a communist revival parties.”
“Sa rallies, ang daming taong Simbahan, maraming duktor, at pati (In the rallies, there are many Church people, many doctors, including) millennials whose motto is to prosper ethically in a capitalist world," said Tañada.
Lacson said that "from the very beginning" Robredo has rejected violence as a political tool and the communist ideology. “It is of public record," he noted.