Pink movement moves down to the streets from the digital world

By Juan Escandor Jr.

It took 17 days for the pink movement to move down the streets in different parts of the country from the virtual avenues of the digital world where it started on October 7, the day Vice President Leni Robredo announced her decision to run for President.

Posting pink motifs in their Facebook and Twitter accounts in support of Leni’s presidential bid, the pink movement caught fire in the digital world and made the hashtag #LabanLeniLaban the Twitter’s top trend with 400,000 tweets, six hours after the announcement.

From the netizens in the social media to Filipino citizens in the localities, the pink movement began to build up and transform into initiatives to form groups in several towns, cities and provinces to promote VP Leni’s presidential bid and advocate her values to change the way the government is being run now.

The turning point happened on October 24, when volunteers in 25 provinces and cities revved up the pink movement in the real world. Thousands of ordinary citizens, wearing pink outfits and riding padyak, bicycles, tricycles, motorcycles and four-wheels with pink motifs, heed the call to join “Caravan of Hope” in different localities proclaiming Leni’s candidacy for President.

Undeniably volunteer driven, the caravans led by ordinary citizens, sans the local politicians, took their cue from the information sharing of the social media and they successfully and simultaneously mounted their respective pink caravan in their own localities on Saturday, in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

In a press conference in Naga City on October 27, VP Leni reported that there was no single leader at all in different localities where the pink caravans were conducted but it seemed, she said, everyone is leading towards the same direction of hope and change.

Interestingly, the pink movement is morphing into positive campaign messaging away from personal attacks, after VP Leni set the tone of her campaign in a video message.

“Tayong lahat ang nagdadala nito. Kailangan nating isalamin ang tunay na ibig sabihin ng pink habang suot natin ito. Gumawa ng mabuti, magpaabot ng tulong sa kapwa, maging mahinahon sa pagbabahagi ng ating mensahe.”

“Tandaan: Madaling makipagtalo; mas radikal ang magmahal. Hanapin ang mga damdamin at sentimyentong nagbibigkis sa bawat Pilipino, at mula doon, bigyang-liwanag ang katotohanan. Iisa ang pangarap nating bukas, mas mapayapa at mas maginhawa, isang bukas kung saan hindi magkakalaban, kundi ipinaglalaban ng Pilipino ang isa’t isa,”

In the US, pink had become the color of activism in the months leading to 2020 presidential elections that elected Democrat candidate Joe Biden to the presidency and frustrated the reelection bid of former President Donald Trump, a Republican.

Courtesy Visit to Archbishop Rolly Tirona. -Fr Mayo Cesar Herrera’s FB