The supposed ties of Vice President Leni Robredo with the communist movement were nothing but “desperate measures” by political rivals to discredit her presidential bid, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Sunday, April 24.
Trillanes, who is running for senator once again, lamented Robredo’s detractors are making “fabricated” accusations because they can’t find any negative issues against the Vice President.
Robredo has been repeatedly linked to the communist movement, the latest of which is Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison serving as an adviser to her campaign.
This is not the first time that Robredo faced accusations that she has aligned herself with Sison, the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
READ: Robredo debunks ‘lies’ about her 'links' to Joma Sison:'Hindi ko pa siya nakakausap kahit minsan‘
Even Senator Panfilo Lacson and Cavite Rep. Boying Remulla have accused Robredo’s campaign of being “infiltrated” by communists. These allegations have ramped up since the election campaign period.
“Hindi po totoo ‘yan (That’s not true). Fake news po ‘yan (That’s fake news),” Trillanes said as he belied anew the red-tagging of Robredo.
The former senator attested he has not seen any communists inside the Robredo camp.
Sison himself flatly denied a news report that claimed he was acting as consultant for Robredo and her campaign.
READ: Joma Sison: I have not been advising Leni
The Vice President’s legal team is mulling possible legal action against people spreading “fake news”.
Trillanes slammed as “funny” that the people accusing the Vice President of aligning herself with the communist group are the same ones who supported President Duterte who coalesced with the New People’s Army (NPA) and talked with Sison himself.
“Kumbaga (That’s), hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty, ang ginagawa nitong mga ito makapanira lang kay (what they are doing to) VP Leni,” he said over dzXL.
He encouraged everyone who reads such fabricated stories to arm themselves with the truth and tagged as “fake news” these reports.
Trillanes said it’s a good thing the Robredo campaign already addressed this issue head-on and clear out these allegations.
Activists criticized the Duterte administration for using red-tagging through the controversial Anti-Terror Law (ATL) authored by Senator Lacson to intimidate critics, including community pantry organizers who helped during the pandemic.