Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni” Robredo— whose bitter rival Marcos Jr. is now giving his strategists and promoters a ‘free hand’ to destroy her and her daughters (if not even the dead husband)—was right in keeping her demeanor and leaving the matter of the sex video allegedly of Aika (her eldest) to the lawyers.
This strategy done on Holy Monday (the start of Holy Week) shows how desperate—despite their claimed early victory (even if there is just overseas absentee voting going on only), in exit polls (is this even legal or allowed by Comelec?) and the existence of those pre-shaded ballots (I wonder if they have any part in this scheme) – despite their maintaining huge leads in the surveys (perhaps they, too, doubt the credibility of those surveys!).
Not only are they showing their desperation, they have also shown how gutter low their morals are and how deeply evil their intentions are by shaming and putting the competitor with deception and untruths. Assuming for the sake of argument that such video was real and truthful, what gains did they earn from exposing it?
I even find disrespectful the way Marcos Jr.’s spokesman, a lawyer himself, is addressing the sitting vice president with only Mrs. Robredo. Bakit close ba kayo enough to entitle you to just call her that?
If they would say that Robredo’s camp is using the estate tax issue to her advantage, they should remember or look at published reports—it was not the vice president or her strategists who came out with such a report. It was the Department of Finance telling the Bureau of Internal Revenue (an agency under it) to start collecting on the Marcos estate taxes of P203 billion. From there, even President Duterte used the issue when he spoke about why he had to allow the esabong to be able to raise funds for pandemic response and other needs of the country. That makes everything official and the people just followed through.
Reactions
Even senatorial aspirant in the party Sen. Ping Lacson, Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar agreed that posting the video on social media only served to
“expose one of the vulnerabilities of the government in securing cyberspace and protecting netizens.”
Eleazar was reacting to a fake video of Aika, Robredo’s eldest daughter, which made rounds on social media.
“Cybercrime is really the crime of the future. It’s a big challenge for the government to watch closely and prevent criminalities in cyberspace,” he said.
“What happened to Aika should have never happened to any woman in the first place. They don’t deserve that kind of scandalous, fake and malicious video,” he added.
The retired police general urged law enforcement agencies, particularly the Philippine National Police (PNP), to investigate the case and determine the criminals behind the malicious attack against Aika.
“I believe that our police organization is apolitical. The only thing that they have to do is to let the investigation take its course,” he said.
Eleazar, who also became a commander of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, has vowed to create legislation that would enhance the investigative and operational capabilities of the country’s law enforcement agencies if elected to the Senate.
He said he would push for the capability enhancement of the PNP and other law enforcement agencies so they could be equipped with modern equipment and trainings, helping law enforcers to be more effective in preventing and solving crimes.
The Partido Reporma candidate also wants to impose heavier fines on individuals who will be proven guilty of cybercrimes.
Another senatorial candidate, Gilbert Teodoro (a good friend of the Dutertes) wants to smoothen and harmonize laws by pulling out legislations that are no longer relevant.
Teodoro, former Tarlac representative and 1989 Bar topnotcher, said some laws are already irrelevant and have become a burden to businesses and the public.
“I believe that the legislative branch now needs to review our laws. Some of these laws are outdated and inefficient that need to be repealed or consolidated in order not to add to the complexity of our regulatory system and policies,” he said.
He said aside from legislations, regulatory issuances of both national agencies and local government units should also be reviewed for streamlining.
Teodoro suggested that the government should have a central body that will coordinate regulatory reforms to ensure that there is coherence in government laws, regulations and policies.
VP’s reaction
Just recently, the vice president accused Marcos jr. of
“spreading lies in its response to the circulation of fake video links against her daughter.”
For Robredo's campaign, however, the allegation of "deception" when a crime has been committed bares its rival's campaign scheme.
Her spokesman Barry Gutierrez said they did not expect sympathy or concern from Marcos' campaign.
“But it reveals a lot about who they are that barely 24 hours after a crime was committed against VP Leni’s family, here they are, in full attack mode, adding insult upon insult on what is already the most unjust of injuries,” he continued.
Robredo pointed to the Marcos camp as the source of the fake video links of her eldest daughter Aika that surfaced earlier this week. She insisted she knows this because she has been at the bitter end of such a smear campaign for the last six years.
“Before, I’m the only focus, but now, they are moving against my children, even they have become victims. We were expecting it, but we want to show that this is not the kind of leadership and campaign that we want,” she said in La Union on Tuesday.
“Maybe they resort to fake news because they have nothing good to say about themselves,” she also said, adding that Marcos is surrounded by the same influencers since they started spreading false information against her in 2016.
For Gutierrez, meanwhile, Robredo and her team have been enduring
“the most toxic forms of online harassment for the better part of six years” and they already know Marcos' playbook.
“This latest insult-laden tirade, coming hard on the heels of yesterday’s exceedingly low blow, should make the same truth clear to us all,” he added.
Ka Leody’s clamor
Presidential bet Ka Leody de Guzman, meanwhile, threw his support behind Robredo and her daughter.
Like the vice president, the labor leader also pointed to the “rotten politics” of Marcos and Duterte.
“This kind of defamation (previously done to Sen. Leila de Lima) and the spread of false information is a trademark of the rotten politics of the faction of Marcos Jr. and Duterte, even if it is said to be made by their supporters,” the tweeted in Filipino.
De Guzman branded Rodriguez’s claim that the supposed video came from Robredo’s camp as “foolishness.”
“Why would they do this kind of impudence to the one they are supporting?”
He then called on his fellow candidates to elevate the level of discourse and instead debate how they can help in the crisis the country is facing.
IBP says sexuality is not for use in campaigns
Candidates and their supporters should not be using women as tools to court votes, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said Thursday as the campaign seasons enters its last few weeks. The IBP asked the public to uphold women's rights and protect them from gender-based violence.
In a statement, the national organization of lawyers said it
"takes notice of the disturbing pattern of sexism, misogyny and violence in the conduct of the current elections campaign."
"Leaders and those who seek to become elected officials must be the first to ensure that laws protecting women from all forms of gender-based violence are upheld and that women are properly portrayed and represented in the electoral process," they said.
The IBP took note of "scantily clad women" hired to entertain in sorties and the spread of fake pornographic videos and social media posts about a presidential bet’s daughter and a revived scandal between a former president and an American actress.
"A woman’s body and sexuality must neither be used to earn more votes nor weaponized to smear a candidate," the IBP said.
Although they did not identify any incident, the statement was issued after rumors spread online linking Vice President Leni Robredo’s eldest daughter Aika to alleged sex videos. Robredo has vowed legal action on the issue. The rumored affair between the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and American actress Dovie Beams has also resurfaced.
The IBP condemned
"the systematic and persistent practice of objectifying and degrading women and all other forms of gender- based violence against women committed during this campaign period."
"These acts are insidious as they take advantage of pre-existing and structural gender biases against women and they erode the hard- earned progress on women’s right to be free from discrimination and violence," they added.
The Safe Spaces Act also covers use information and communications technology in terrorizing and intimidating victims through “impersonating identities of victims online or posting lies about victims to harm their reputation,” the lawyers’ group reminded the public.
The IBP urged the candidates to adopt a gender-sensitive and non-discriminatory campaign and renewed its call to the Commission on Human Rights to craft a code of conduct to be followed during campaign.
"Lastly, we call on the public to adopt a policy of zero tolerance against all forms of gender-based sexual harassment, to not post and repost malicious and harassing posts and to call out candidates and leaders should be they be in violation of our current laws," it added.