Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV called on the opposition’s supporters to focus on promoting Vice President Leni Robredo’s ticket and not be distracted by the disqualification cases against rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“To my fellow Kakampinks, the DQ (disqualification) case of BBM is out of our hands. Kung ma-DQ sya, laban. Kung di naman, laban pa rin (If he gets disqualified, fight. If he doesn’t, fight still),” he said in a Twitter post on late Saturday night, Jan. 29.
Instead, Trillanes enjoined kakampinks—a combination of the word “kakampi (ally)” and pink—to “refocus on pushing for #TeamLeniKiko.”
Pink is the campaign color of the Robredo campaign.
“Specifically, by talking (thru face to face or calls/texts) to the people close to us, like our relatives, friends, employees, etc. You'd be surprised by how many non-political individuals you'd be able to influence that way. Mabilis sila maconvert (They are quick to convert),” Trillanes said.
The former Navy officers told supporters to avoid talking to “highly politicized persons” for now to focus on converting the non-political ones.
“Saka na lang sila balikan (Just get back to them later),” he said of supporters of Robredo’s rival.
The disqualification cases against Marcos are pending before the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) first division, headed by Commissioner Rowena Guanzon.
The fiery commissioner revealed that she voted to disqualify Marcos and asked the commissioner-ponente to release the decision of the first division before her retirement on Feb. 2.
READ: Guanzon announces vote to disqualify Marcos Jr.; says someone powerful behind decision delay
The decision was supposed to be released on Jan. 17, but it was delayed because the ponente’s lawyers contracted COVID-19.
Earlier cases against Marcos—one to declare him a nuisance candidate and another to cancel his Certificate of Candidacy (COC)—were already junked by the poll body’s second division.
Theodore Te, the counsel for the petition to cancel Marcos’ COC, filed a motion for reconsideration before the poll body’s en banc.