Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday claimed that the smear campaign against her family, including the malicious rumors about her daughter Aika, came from the camp of her opponent and fellow presidential aspirant Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.
In a chance interview with reporters during her campaign sortie in La Union on Tuesday, Robredo affirmatively answered the question of whether the misleading social media posts about her family and the fake pornographic content of her daughter came from the Marcos camp.
"Oo naman. Kasi ginawa na niya 'yan sa akin noong 2016. Consistently ginagawa 'yan sa akin nu'ng nag-pick up iyong numbers ko noong 2016 election. Noong hindi pa nagpi-pick up iyong numbers ko, hindi naman ako pinapansin. Nu'ng nag-pick up, nasa receiving end na ako ng lahat ng kasinungalingan," said Robredo, who won against Marcos during the 2016 vice presidential elections by 263,473 votes.
[Yes. Because he did the same thing to me in 2016. Consistently he has been doing this to me since my survey numbers picked up during the 2016 election. When my numbers were not picking up, I was unnoticed. When they picked up, I was at the receiving end of all the lies.]
Robredo also slammed her opponent's smear campaigns saying that delivering fake news reflects their governance or the lack of good about themselves.
"Inaasahan namin siya, pero gusto nating ipakita na hindi ito ‘yung klase ng pamumuno saka kampanya na gusto natin. Kung papano sila lumaban ngayon, ganoon din pag nakaupo na sila. Puno ng kasinungalingan, puno ng dumihan," she said.
[We expected it but we want to show the public that this is not the kind of governance and campaign that we want. How they fight now is the reflection of them once they're in position. Full of lies.]
Robredo added that the people around Marcos are the same people who peddle disinformation about her.
"Iyong mga nakapaligid sa kanya, ito iyong mga ginagamit niyang influencers. Hanggang ngayon, hindi ako hinintuan for the last six years. But the lesson on that is that wala talagang kapalit ang paggawa ng kabutihan, walang kapalit ang katotohanan" she said.
[The people around him are the ones he is using as influencers. Up to now, they have not stopped targeting me for the last six years. But the lesson on that is that there is no substitute to doing good and you cannot change the truth.]
"At the end of the day, kabutihan at katotohanan pa rin iyong pipiliin ng tao," she added.
[At the end of the day, the people will always choose goodness and truth.]
On Monday, an alleged sex video of one of Robredo's daughters circulated online.
Robredo in a statement on Monday did not mention the particular incident but urged her supporters to refrain from being distracted, noting that continuing to do good despite the attacks was how she survived the last six years.
"The lawyers will take legal action, but kami ng mga bata, we refuse to be deterred. Kung paano sila lumaban ngayon, ganu'n rin sila 'pag nakaupo na sila: puro kasinungalingan, puno ng dumihan. Dapat i-highlight 'yung kabutihan nila, iyong kaya nilang gawin, pero nagre-resort sa ganito kasi walang masabing maganda sa kanila," the Vice President stated.
[The lawyers will take legal action, but we and my team, we refuse to be deterred. The way they fight now is how they will be if they are elected into office: filled with lies and dirty tricks. They should highlight their competencies but they resort to these smears because they cannot say anything good about themselves.]
