The recent People’s Caravan of Hope participated in by thousands of vehicles all around the country was definitely a reflection of the people’s collective initiative to express their support for Leni Robredo’s 2022 presidential bid.
I participated in the caravan in our small town in Batangas. It was overwhelming to see the community’s initiative to organize it, with the participation of roughly over a hundred vehicles coming from different barangays and two of our neighboring towns.
As a teacher of collective behavior, I am particularly interested in analyzing what causes certain crowd behavior to occur and how the individual involvement dominates the collective episode.
Collective behavior is spontaneous and unstructured social behavior that occurs when people share similar strong sentiments and try to develop common solutions to unclear situations.
The so-called “pink movement” is an example of collective behavior. Netizens in pink flooded social media as an online movement to honor Robredo’s important announcement of candidacy. This was purely volunteer-driven. People from all walks of life showed support in unity, both in the real world and on social media. And the movement has continued to attract volunteers and supporters.
Collective behavior serves as a relief valve for pent-up tensions or strains in society. No wonder pink dominated social media as soon as the announcement was made, and why more people are joining the #KakampinkWednesday.
The nationwide caravan that took place on Oct. 23 and 24 was joined in by people belonging to different groups: LGBTQ+ for Leni, Lawyers for Leni, Teachers for Leni, Youth for Leni, the “province name” for Leni … The caravan featured some 10,000 vehicles in over 50 cities.
It could have been just an ordinary weekend for many, but people chose to fill the roads with pink to express their ardent hope for a clean and dependable government.
While there are people spreading false information that some who joined the caravan received money, I beg to disagree. I noticed firsthand how people came together freely to proclaim their support for Leni Robredo. It’s a people’s initiative and an organic movement—something the troll army can’t defeat.
But the “pink movement” should not only stay in our social media feed. It should also reach the masses. Lalaban tayo. Pink is not just a color, it symbolizes a new spirit of hope and courage for Filipinos. As VP Leni said: “Tumindig kayo; tinitiyak ko, mayroon ding titindig sa tabi ninyo.”
Sunshine Therese S. Alcantara, stsalcantara94@gmail.com