Fake news, red-tagging fail to stop ‘Pink’ momentum (Sabong News)

This week marked the apparent start of political consolidation behind the major candidates for president.  Partido Reporma rocked the political firmament by switching its support from Senator Ping Lacson to Vice President Leni Robredo.  Lacson’s red-baiting gamble against Robredo just a few weeks ago has backfired on him. He’s now without a party, after his party went from Ping to Pink. I wonder if he would red-tag his own party, now that Reporma joins groups such as the Makabayan Coalition in the broad alliance of forces backing Robredo.  Former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Reporma’s president, reminded in no uncertain terms that not all traditional politicians worship at the altar of Duterte and Marcos.    Only time would tell if Lacson could manage to stay in the race. No party has come forward to offer Lacson political shelter.   He could not even win the endorsement of the Nationalist People’s Coalition headed by his own running mate Senate President Tito Sotto.  The National Unity Party has backed Bongbong Marcos. Perhaps Mayor Isko Moreno knew all along that this would be the decision, which could explain why he switched from NUP to Aksyon Demokratiko prior to filing for his presidential candidacy. Many NUP governors however have backed Robredo.  President Duterte’s faction of the PDP-Laban meanwhile tries to wield whatever influence it could still muster by formally but not surprisingly endorsing Marcos. Days later, the palace announced a meeting between the president and Marcos, signifying that a lot of talks is really happening at the highest echelons of political power.  The campaign period for local positions also started this week. The alignments at the local level could affect the national race, especially if the national candidates manage to earn the support of local candidates in vote-rich cities and provinces.  We could expect the alignments to lead to sharper political divisions in the last 40 or so days of the campaign.  In order to wrest the lead, it is a challenge for Robredo to assemble a winning coalition of traditional politicians while at the same time assuring supporters who have rallied for her by the tens to hundreds of thousands that she remains committed to reforms.  It is important to note that Robredo’s embrace of traditional politicians presents a stark contrast to her campaign team’s unkind treatment of the Makabayan Coalition, Neri Colmenares and Elmer Labog.  In the Tarlac rally, for instance, the livestream was cut when Colmenares began to speak. It was also reported that Robredo’s campaign team allegedly tried to stop Colmenares from speaking in Pasig, although the local organizers already invited him to speak as he had done in past sorties.  So-called fears about the negative effects of red-tagging have been debunked by the huge turnout in Robredo’s rallies. Kakampinks apparently know better than Robredo’s team in viewing the role and stand of Makabayan: For many Kakampinks, Makabayan forces led by Colmenares and Labog are true friends and advocates of change.  Many Kakampinks have also openly disagreed with some of Robredo’s traditional political choices for her senatorial race. The gold standard for Kakampinks insofar as senatorial candidates are concerned is not Robredo’s choices, but that of 1Sambayan. 1Sambayan’s slate bannered by Robredo and Kiko Pangilinan includes Colmenares and Labog. With fake news and red-tagging miserably failing to stop Robredo’s momentum, she has successfully pressured her main rival to spend more resources in puny attempts to duplicate the big Kakampink rallies happening nationwide.  The optics of the gigantic Kakampink rallies make it appear that Robredo is the only candidate that could attract such crowds. And there’s no indication that Kakampinks would stop anytime soon. They have nothing to lose except the perception that Marcos is unstoppable. That’s a good thing to lose. At the same time, the big rallies sway public opinion in her favor and attract the attention of local and national candidates seeking to win. At this stage of the race, Robredo is on a roll: She gathers more friends than enemies. She is forming the broadest alliance against the narrowest targets. Defying fake news and red-tagging, Kakampinks are mobilizing and rallying in stunning displays of voter commitment for social change. We can’t leave politics to the politicians. Let’s keep the momentum, listen and win over more people, articulate better the cause of social change, and organize ourselves into political organizations. The people’s campaign can win, and that depends largely on how we arouse, organize and mobilize people.