Presidential candidate and labor leader Leodegario “Ka Leody” De Guzman has condemned the smear campaign conducted against the family of Vice President Leni Robredo, labeling the act as a trademark tactic of the Marcoses and Dutertes.
“Kinokondena ko ang tahasang pambabastos kay Aika Robredo sa lumabas na pekeng iskandalosong video (I condemn the harassment against Aika Robredo in which a fake scandal was released),” De Guzman said in a statement on Tuesday, April 12.
Links to fake videos posted on explicit websites targeting the younger Robredo have recently sprung up on Google.
“Ang ganitong klase ng paninira at pagkalat ng pekeng impormasyon ay trademark ng bulok na pulitika ng paksyon ni Marcos Jr. at Duterte, kahit pa sabihing gawa-gawa lamang ito ng kanilang supporter (This sort of defamation and the spread of false information is the trademark rotten politics of the faction of Marcos Jr. and Duterte, no matter how much their supporters claim that the issue was fabricated),” he added.
De Lima, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration, faced similar defamation attempts in the past and was even imprisoned in 2017 after President Duterte alleged that she had ties to drugs, allegations which she vehemently denies to this day.
“Kalokohan ang alegasyon ni Atty. Vic Rodriguez na nagmula ang video na ito sa kampo ni Robredo. Bakit nila gagawin ang ganitong kawalang-hiyaan sa kanilang sinusuportahan (Rodriguez’s allegations that these videos came from the camp of VP Robredo are foolishness. Why would they do such a thing to those they support?) the labor leader continued, referring to the Marcos spokesperson's statement.
Rodriguez released a statement on April 12 denying that the Marcos camp had any involvement in the blatant harassment against the younger Robredo, going as far as accusing the Robredo camp of fabricating the issue.
Rodriguez claims that the Marcos camp has focused on “positive campaigning".
Meanwhile, Robredo’s camp and her allies have slammed the defamation attempts, describing the incident as a “crime against women", and demolition against the Robredo family.
For her part, Aika remained unperturbed by the attempts at defamation and urged voters to remain focused on their pink campaign.