Philippine election: Can Leni Robredo’s ‘pink wave’ reverse the Bongbong Marcos tide?
- Weeks out from the May 9 poll, VP Leni Robredo’s supporters are going all out to canvass for votes, including running soup kitchens, knocking on doors and holding street rallies
- The strength of the ‘pink wave’ has unsettled some backers of frontrunner Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr, who have belittled the movement online
As the Philippine presidential election nears, a people’s campaign for Leni Robredo has reached a fever pitch, with a “pink wave” of supporters working day and night to close the gap between her and front runner Ferdinand Marcos Jnr on May 9.
Property agent Nena Divino, 82, says her days are crammed full with organising voter education forums, supporting a community pantry to feed the hungry, and fielding volunteers for rallies and house-to-house campaigns in Manila’s suburban Quezon City.
It is not her first time supporting a Marcos rival. The grandmother of nine in 1986 campaigned for Corazon Aquino when she ran against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos – Marcos Jnr’s father. “Because of our present government, we are looking for a new kind of leadership,” she told This Week in Asia.
In the working-class neighbourhood of Obrero in Quezon City, John Toledo, 29, is part of a growing army of volunteers campaigning door to door and on the streets. Every night, the literature teacher at the state-funded Polytechnic University of the Philippines pushes a cart offering free hot lugaw, or porridge – a dish that has long been associated with Robredo because of her community work.
Toledo says he decided to back Robredo, the country’s current vice-president, after examining her track record, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic when she provided personal protective equipment to frontline medical staff and organised vaccinations for the poor.
Robredo, a human rights lawyer, has cited the rise of disinformation and the threat of a return to the graft and human rights abuse-ridden politics of the Marcos era as among the reasons she is seeking the top job.
