A volunteer group campaigning for a presidential candidate on Wednesday debunked circulating claims that the youngest daughter of a presidential bet started a commotion in Baguio City.
One Baguio Benguet-Robredo People’s Council (OBB-RPC) narrated that Jillian Robredo, the youngest daughter of Vice President Leni Robredo, went to the Baguio Public Market with their members and volunteers on Tuesday.
The group said they conducted a market walk to campaign for her mother, who is running with vice presidential bet Sen. Kiko Pangilinan.
“While the group was walking in the public market, an unknown individual started shouting at the group. That person started screaming at the group telling them, ‘Huwag kayong humarang!'” OBB-RPB narrated in a statement.
A report by Baguio Chronicle notes that it was nearly the closing time at the market, hence the need to clear the path at that time.
“A voice can be heard telling the buyers to clear the path. If you are a regular buyer, this is a constant reminder to prevent pickpockets to take advantage,” the report says.
“A member of the group tried to pacify him, and the other volunteers expressed their apologies for the inconvenience, but instead of being pacified, he screamed even louder, ‘Dayuhan ka lang dito, kami Igorot kami!'” OBB-RPC said.
Igorot is an old word for “people from the mountains.” It refers to various ethnic groups in the mountains of northern Luzon.
The members then denied that Jillian provoked the heckler.
“Contrary to the comments on social media, the verbal attack was unprovoked, and the edited/spliced videos that show otherwise do not indicate what truly happened,” the group added.
It said that Jillian and her companions did not engage further and left the public market.
The group also noted that the “unacceptable yet coordinated operation” has happened to reelectionist Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a senatorial under the Leni-Kiko slate, when she visited the same area last December.
“The RPC house-to-house and Tao Sa Tao campaign are done to engage all people kindly and with an open heart, whether or not they support VP Leni. This was what Ms. Jillian was doing with our RPC volunteers. Contrary to the posts online, she and the volunteers did their best to approach market-goers without being a bother to others,” it stated.
Leni’s supporters also uploaded a full video of the incident to counter claims that Jillian was the one who supposedly provoked the individual.
Jillian, on the other hand, said that her house-to-house campaign efforts would continue following the incident.
“Tuloy-tuloy lang po ang H2H at palengke runs. Puso sa puso. Last 12 days. Focus tayo,” she tweeted on Wednesday with emojis.
Jillian is embarking on house-to-house campaign efforts with her elder sisters, Tricia and Aika Robredo.