BAGUIO CITY, Philippines  — Masked men on board a red Tamaraw FX with no plate number defaced in the pre-dawn hours of April 21 the Leni-Kiko tarpaulins at the opposition’s La Trinidad campaign headquarters 

They sprayed the letters “NPA”, the acronym of the communist New People’s Army, on campaign posters of presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate senator Kiko Pangilinan. 

The volunteers said the vandalism happened all over town. 

Despite unabated red-tagging here targeting the opposition bets, their supporters, and militant politicians and party-list groups, the pink surge continues to crest in the country’s summer capital.

A few hours after the latest attacks, the One Baguio-Benguet Robredo People’s Council (OBB-RPC) announced that 100 local business firms have endorsed Robredo and Pangilinan.

The businesses ranged from national artist Ben Cabrera’s museum, to various hotels and restaurants, to gas stations, health clinics, real estate companies, bookstores, arts and crafts stores, and hardware shops.

“Possibly, it (the attack) has something to do with the fact that there is a people’s rally that is going to happen very soon, and the objective is to strike fear or to make supporters rethink that particular rally,” OBB-RPC geographical coordinator Katrina Balajadia-Liggayu said in mix Filipino and English. 

Groups supporting Robredo’s presidential run have scheduled Takder Kordi (Stand Up Kordi): Cordillera People’s Rally on April 28. 

They have also lined up build-up activities leading to the grand event. 

Pink surge

Balajadia-Liggayu said the attacks started early in the campaign, died down, and then peaked again.

“It is highly threatening. Almost all of the supporters are red-tagged,” the lawyer added. But, Balajadia-Liggayu said, “we know that in Baguio and Benguet, we are safe.”

This city is viewed as part of the “Solid North” areas on Luzon’s northern flank that have been the traditional bailiwick of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his heirs.

The dictator’s son and namesake is the leading presidential contender but Robredo volunteers have managed to gather large numbers in a number of places like Pangasinan.

Baguio Kakampinks’ latest campaign event bathed the famous Burnham Lake in a rose glow on Wednesday, April 20. About 60 boats carrying both young and old merged at the lake’s center, as 200 volunteers holding pink lights sang Robredo campaign songs. 

HAPPENING NOW. Pinkify Burnham led by Sarrangola ng Pag-asa, 50 boats now on Burnham Lake with an aberage of 4 persons on each boat. pic.twitter.com/y2rgZST0If

— Sherwin De Vera (@Weng_De_Vera) April 20, 2022

Artist and director Karlo Altomonte said the affair is part of the Saranggola ng Pag-asa (Kite of Hope), a nationwide initiative of Katipunan sa Kultura at Kasaysayan led by National Artists Virgilio Almario, Benedicto Cabrera, Ryan Cayabyab, and Alice Reyes, among others. In Baguio and Benguet, the series of activities for the project will culminate on April 23.  

“We will weave these (activities) into a video that will highlight the four elements of nature – Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. The poetry of Frank [Cimatu] accompanied by a nose flute represents Wind. The bonfire activity at the Carantes Forest [on April 17] signified Fire,” he explained. 

Altomonte said the Earth activity will be their meeting and sustainable farming workshop on April 22 with vegetable planters in the towns of Atok and Tublay. – Rappler.com

Sherwin De Vera is a Luzon-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship.