Philippine presidential hopeful Leni Robredo wowed her supporters as she joined young tribe members for a traditional dance at an election rally in Occidental Mindoro province.

The crowd burst into delighted cheers and screams on April 6 as Robredo was introduced onstage, skipping along to the music while flanked by the youth of the local Mangyan tribe.

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.