Vice President Leni Robredo enjoys the crowd鈥檚 company at the PasigLaban Para sa TRoPa People鈥檚 Rally on Sunday, March 19. An estimated 140,000 people attended the Pasig rally, the biggest show of force to date for Robredo鈥檚 presidential bid. (VP Leni Media Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Vice President Leni Robredo has urged netizens to report a Facebook account that claimed that attendees of her campaign rally were paid P1,000 and even red-tagged her supporters.
In a Facebook post on Monday night, Robredo debunked the claim of a netizen who said that his friend鈥檚 sister was paid P1,000 just for attending Robredo鈥檚 presidential campaign rally.
鈥淧eople lined up for so many hours, braving the heat and the crowds. Abonado pa ang karamihan sa kanila. Huwag natin hayaan yurakan ang ating dignidad ng mga kasinungalingan. Nang red tag pa. Please help us report,鈥� Robredo said, sharing a screenshot of the netizen鈥檚 post.
(People lined up for so many hours, braving the heat and the crowds. Most of them even spent money. Let us not allow lies to destroy our dignity. This person even red-tagged us. Please help us report.)
The netizen, in his post, even asked where Robredo would reimburse the supposed payment for rally attendees, and said that 鈥渕ayayaman talaga mga NPA (The NPA is really rich)!鈥�
The netizen, however, did not mention where the rally he was referring to had happened.
Robredo鈥檚 latest campaign rally was held in Pasig City on Sunday, which, according to organizers, drew a crowd of 180,000. Pasig Police initially placed the attendees to just 137,000 鈥� still a huge figure, and definitely still the topnotcher in terms of attendance among Robredo鈥檚 campaign sorties.
Earlier this month, Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin 鈥淏oying鈥� Remulla also claimed that those who attended Robredo鈥檚 rally in General Trias City were paid P500 each.
Both Robredo and her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez strongly denied this claim, noting that it was even Robredo鈥檚 supporters who had to shell out their own money to pay for the printing of her posters and other campaign materials.