Criselda Yabes is a journalist based in the Philippines. She is author of "The Battle of Marawi," her 10th book, which was published last year.

Belittled and derided by President Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo's decision to seek the presidency in next year's elections has, quite unexpectedly, unleashed a pink wave.

Announcing her candidacy, Robredo pinned a pink ribbon to her pale blue top, colors that evoked -- whether intentionally or subliminaly -- the robes worn by statues of the Virgin Mary in nearly all churches of this overwhelmingly Catholic but fragmented nation.

It was also a break from the color yellow, which represented the democratic opposition party that Duterte has tried to undo. By adopting the color pink, Robredo -- the nearest thing there is to a rallying opposition leader -- has come out to say she is ready to fight to restore an upended system.

In a 15-minute speech packed with succinctness and metaphors that spoke to the Filipino psyche, Robredo offered a moral choice to a people whose religion dominates every sphere of life. With the statement that "whoever loves must do battle for the beloved," Robredo portrayed herself as a mother wanting to end the impunity and incompetence of the current order.

Robredo's candidacy has been worth the wait. Prodded perhaps by the public's deep frustrations with Duterte's mishandling of the pandemic, her popularity has burst into the open, with pink memes flourishing. Social media has been awash with images of buildings and celebrities adorned in pink. Men have taken to walking around in upscale malls in pink. Pink face masks went out of stock.

Despite some similarities to the campaign ran by Corazon Aquino in the 1980s that toppled former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose son Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is also running for president next year, Robredo drew from a well of leadership practices used by her late husband, Jesse, a former mayor of a small city in southern Luzon. It was his fiscal management that taught Robredo how to use the meager budget of the vice president's office to reach people in need.

Protesters burn effigies depicting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, following Marcos' Oct. 6 announcement that he would run for president next year.   © Reuters

Since the start of the pandemic, Robredo has traveled the country addressing the health crisis, while Duterte has been seen addressing late-night cabinet meetings using brash tones and incoherent logic.

Robredo seems destined to follow a similar political path to other female leaders in Southeast Asia who decided to come forward after the demise of a father, husband or brother. Robredo's husband died in a plane crash in 2012, cutting short a promising political career.

In the 1990s, Jesse was in competition with then-Davao Mayor Duterte. His turf was the landlocked backwater city of Naga, which flourished under his watch by the strength of his transparency, fair practice and accountability. While Jesse pushed and mentored youths to join his city hall, Leni Robredo helped organize and mobilize Naga communities with the determination of a tiger mom, at the same time raising three high-achieving daughters.

But in 2016 it was Duterte, storming the country with his tough talk and gangland-style of politics, who won the presidency, convincing people he was a father figure who could impose the harsh discipline needed to bring order. People later tolerated his brutal war against drugs, fought largely in poor communities and abetted by an untrained, allegedly corrupt police force.

"Without saying so explicitly, [Robredo] likens the Filipino public's forbearance with Mr. Duterte's incompetent and violent presidency to the deep ambivalence that women experience when the men they chose to love and raise a family turned out to be dissolute tyrants," wrote prominent sociologist Randy David in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Robredo was a lawyer whose clients were battered wives, suffering a syndrome she has related to the fatalistic acceptance of Duterte. "They continue to love their abusers, offer excuses for their repugnant behavior and hang on to every little sign that they are at heart good persons," said David.

To win the presidency, Robredo will have to give voters the courage to break this abusive bond. Making her task that much more difficult will be the fact that Duterte will use all the resources of the presidency to back her main opponent. She will have to muster an army of volunteers and convince the poor not to accept money in exchange for votes.

The public pulse has shifted drastically from 35 years ago, when ordinary people united to kick out a dictator. The promise since then of our democracy has been diluted over time. Today, the Marcos children have returned to reclaim power and rewrite the history of their father's presidency to make people believe that it was a golden age that only another strongman can restore.

Robredo's instincts are to empower people at the fringes of society, called the laylayan , building from the bottom up -- that blue semi-frock she wore announcing her candidacy was embroidered with images of ordinary folks. That is going to be an uphill battle, especially when so many voters, having steadily lost a point of reference, treat politics as a game of Russian roulette.

For Robredo, the color pink (and blue) is a symbol of faith, a moral guidepost to victory.