Locals braved the rain to attend an election rally for Leni Robredo who is running for president of the Philippines.

Armed with umbrellas, raincoats, and placards to shield them from the downpour, some 40,000 people flocked to the Rizal Provincial Capitol Grounds in Rizal province on April 5 despite the inclement weather threatening to dampen the event.

Giant 20-foot standees of Robredo and her running mate Francis 'Kiko' Pangilinan were seen towering over the crowd. Next to the stage, Rizal province's famous 'higantes' - life-sized papier-mache puppets - wore sashes that detailed Robredo's campaign promises.

The rain abated just in time for her speech at around 9 in the evening.

Robredo is vying for the presidency of the Philippines, and has chosen the colour pink to brand her campaign. She is competing against nine other candidates, including controversial election poll frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Human rights monitor Amnesty International said at least 3,240 were killed, 34,000 were tortured, and 70,000 were jailed during Marcos’s brutal 14-year reign under martial law. His family is believed to have amassed a staggering 5 to 10 billion USD as they plundered the national coffers and plunged the Philippines into debt. The Philippine Commission on Good Governance was established to recover the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth after they fled the country in 1986.

A probe by news agency AFP said that ‘false and misleading claims have flooded Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter in the lead-up to the May 9 polls, pounding Filipinos with a relentless barrage of propaganda on platforms’ in support of Ferdinand Marcos Junior, who uses the nickname ‘Bongbong’.

The Philippines will be holding its national elections on May 9 this year.