ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the motivations, training and recruitment practices of former Vice President Leni Robredo's campaign during the 2022 Philippine Presidential elections. The chapter also looks into how her volunteers managed their campaigns through formal and informal networks at Ilocos Sur, the bailiwick of her political rival, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,
The authors used key informant interviews, participant observation, auto-ethnographic accounts, review of online documents and media reports to understand political volunteers in developing democracies in the Global South. The findings suggest that Robredo's political volunteers used indigenous concepts of bayanihan (to commune) and ambag (to contribute) in navigating the campaign terrain, amidst a powerful set of rivals. Though political volunteers come from all walks of life, were organic and decentralized, they were challenged by their limited resources and time, their ownership of their own messaging that sometimes diverged from the formal campaign, and the lack of a unifying push to utilize and sustain the movement's potential.
