A woman tries to prevent the revival of the Marcos dynasty

With just weeks to go before the presidential election in the Philippines, the lone female candidate is attracting the largest pre-election crowd in decades because she is Ferdinand “Bambang” R. Marcos wants to bring a catastrophic disaster against Jr.

Maria Leoner “Lenny” G. Robredo, who became vice president after defeating Mr Marcos in 2016, went door-to-door with more than 2 million volunteers to spread the word that his campaign came from his opponents.

The question is whether support for Mrs. Robredo is too low, too late: a March poll found that the 57-year-old lawyer was more than 30 percentage points behind the late Marcos Jr., the only son. Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

“Many are harassing us, saying we have no chance of winning. Do you believe it? “Mrs. Robredo asked a crowd that her campaign had told more than 400,000 people at her birthday party on April 23.” No! “

This is not the first time Mrs. Robredo has held this position. In the vote before the 2016 vice-presidential race, Mrs. Robredo defeated Mr. Marcos by six percentage points just one month before the vote and was able to defeat him by a narrow margin, leading to a long legal battle.

There are more steep climbs around him this time around, thanks to Mr Marcos’ running mate Sarah Duterte-Carpio. President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s daughter ran first in the presidential poll before deciding to take the No. 2 role. The powerful alliance combined the strongholds of the Marcos dynasty in the north with the popularity of Duterte in the south.

Mrs Robredo wants to appeal to suburban voters to be wary of Marcos returning to the year. His rise in politics was ex-President Korajan C. Reflects Aquino, who led a revolt against Marcos after her husband was killed by a military escort at Manila International Airport in 1983. Mrs. Robredo took part in the demonstration, which she described as a “political awakening.”

He entered politics with his wife, a cabinet member of then-President Benigno “Nayanoy” SC Aquino III, who died in a plane crash in 2012. Marcos is similar to what Corazon Aquino did years ago when he opposed his father.

This time around, however, Mrs. Robredo stands as an independent at the last minute because opponents have failed to agree on a candidate. She chose pink as her campaign color, taking a hint from her supporters who used the color on social media profiles when they saw her wearing a bright pink ribbon to announce her candidacy in October.

The only woman among the 10 presidential contenders, Mrs. Robredo, is running on a platform that an honest and effective government will lead Southeast Asian countries to inclusive prosperity. Raphael columnist Jamina Vesta Jugo says the choice of pink emphasizes Mrs. Robredo’s “femininity of the people” in a political context influenced by Mr Duterte’s “macho style”.

Mr Marcos is partly due to social media posts and online comments that say his father’s rule was a golden age and deny that atrocities took place. A cautious speaker, he focused on the message of unity at the rally, rallied by local politicians and avoided the presidential debate.

In contrast, Ms. Robredo has been confronted with misleading information on social media, forcing her to deny several times that she has a relationship. As the vote drew to a close, the latest attack on her was a fake sex video of her eldest daughter.

“Sexism is part of the arsenal of misleading actors,” said Nicole Kurato, a professor of sociology at the University of Canberra. “These are to insult women active in politics. It also sends a signal to other women who want to talk and participate in politics. “

Ms Robredo said she had previously regretted the online attack and urged supporters to knock on the door to fight lies with truth and to persuade the indecisive. His campaign says the biggest jump in support comes whenever he attends rallies in the province and interacts with his volunteers on the ground, an unusual tactic in a country where local politicians tend to organize voters.

Campaign spokesman Barry Guterres said: “We had no equipment, no air warfare. “All we had was a huge, heavily invested volunteer force.”

Among these volunteers is 32-year-old Annie Maligaya, who leads a group of neighbors who pick tabs for Mrs. Robredo’s campaign, transportation, food and promotional materials.

“I’ve participated in a number of webinars where we share tips on how to communicate with people and transform them,” he said in the town of Mandaluyang in the capital. “Don’t let the hackers get you down, just focus. Reach out to you as much as possible. And the advice is to keep the conversation as light as possible. ”

Rival campaigns have tried to undermine Miss Robredo’s efforts Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isco” M. Domagoso Camp, who finished third in the presidential race, said Robredo was preaching to singers during the rally.

At a recent rally in Batan province, north of Metro Manila, an area where Mr Marcos has the support of local politicians, about 65,000 people attended Miss Robredo’s rally. Crowds chanted slogans against the Japanese during World War II, referring to the last position of Filipino and American troops in the province, “We will not surrender to Batan.”

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.

“The question is, will this move be enough to win the election?” Can this crowd translate into voting? “He said.” I don’t think they cracked the code. ” Bloomberg