Vice President Leni Robredo toured Cavite on Thursday as she was greeted by enthusiastic Caviteños wearing pink shirts and masks and waving ribbons in show of support for the presidential aspirant.
While in Cavite, Robredo also visited the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Our Lady of the Pillar-Imus Cathedral in Imus to lead the ribbon-cutting of The Bell House, which houses the four Heritage Bells of Imus Cathedral from the 1800s.
During her visit, the Vice President also met with Bishop Rey Evangelista and other priests from the Diocese of Imus.
Later, Robredo led the blessing of two Leni Lugaw trucks in Brgy. Tramo-Bantayan in Kawit. The trucks will be used by Youth Vote for Leni and Caviteños for Leni to distribute free rice porridge (lugaw) to residents of poor communities in Cavite.
Here, VP Leni thanked donors and volunteers, emphasizing that the lugaw brand has now become a symbol of compassion and bayanihan among Filipinos.
After the blessing, vice presidential aspirant Senator Kiko Pangilinan and senatorial candidates Chel Diokno and Sonny Matula joined Robredo in serving lugaw to residents in the area.
Loud cheers of pink-clad Caviteños also greeted the Vice President as she passed by a static caravan her supporters initiated in Trece Martires.
Meanwhile, three key supporters of Robredo take pride in what is turning out to be a bottom-up, volunteer-led movement backing the opposition leader’s bid for the presidency in 2022.
Civil society leader Dan Songco of the Team Leni Robredo volunteers’ group said in an On The Campaign Trail interview that they are unfazed by critics hitting the different graphics, posters, animations, and hashtags that have been popping up nationwide to promote Robredo.
Aurelio Servando of Robredo’s People’s Council in Iloilo even compared the dynamics between the Vice President’s official campaign team and volunteers groups to the Swiss movement in a watch.
Author Yvette Fernandez said the energy and positivity of Robredo’s volunteers are unmatched.
Fernandez herself even went on leave from her corporate job days after Robredo launched her presidential bid so she could join the media and communications team of the Vice President.
Songco said they are proud that the “Kakampinks” – the term referring to Robredo’s pink-clad supporters – are putting their own spin on their presidential bet’s central message in 2022.
Every week, Robredo and her campaign manager, former senator Bam Aquino, would release videos and campaign bulletins to guide volunteers on how they should conduct themselves and how to promote the Vice President’s platform.
“They’re so creative. They would create their own materials. We provide them with the central message, the central design. But they would change that design to their liking, and we don’t say no to that because that’s the character of this campaign,” said Songco.
“You cannot compare this to a traditional campaign – this is a people’s campaign. And we have to learn to understand it that way and I think that’s her path to victory,” he added.