THE May 2022 national elections will be a critical point for the country because it will give Filipinos an opportunity to put an end to “old politics,” Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday.
Robredo, the opposition’s presidential aspirant, made the comment after her political nemesis, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., drew the support of former presidents Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo for his presidential bid.
“Pagkakataon ito for us to, parang reset button na kapag tinalo natin sila, umpisahan na natin iyong isang klase ng pulitika na lahat may pagkakataon (This is an opportunity for us to have some sort of a reset button which means that when we beat them, we’ll start a new kind of politics where everyone is given a fair chance),” she told the Alliance of Labor Leaders for Leni’s (All4Leni) general assembly and covenant signing at the Office of the Vice President in Quezon City.
Marcos, who was defeated in the 2016 vice presidential race, is running for the country’s top post with presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as running mate.
Robredo chairs the Liberal Party of the late former president Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III whose parents former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino and mother former president Corazon C. Aquino were instrumental in toppling the dictatorship of Bongbong’s late father, Ferdinand Marcos.
Arroyo, meanwhile, was detained under the younger Aquino’s presidency for four years at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for plunder charges.
Robredo said that since politics in the country has become “exclusive for the wealthy, those with political pedigree, the 2022 elections will be extremely important especially since the big names and families in politics have joined forces.”
“My dream is for us to reach a point, maybe not in the next six years, where our politics will allow ordinary people into public office,” she said in Filipino.
Robredo said the inclusion of labor leader Sonny Matula in her Senate slate shows her camp is serious in trying to pave the way for a new kind of politics in the country.
Matula is president of the Federation of Free Workers which is associated with the Akbayan party-list group of Sen. Risa Hontiveros. He is also the chair of the labor coalition Nagkaisa which is said to represent social democrats in the opposition ticket.
“Siguro mahihirapan si Attorney Sonny kasi ang papasukin natin, iyon pa rin na klase ng pulitika, pero dahil nagiging people’s movement ito, anything is possible (Maybe Attorney Sonny will find it difficult because we’re enter the same old kind of politics but since this is becoming a people’s movement, anything is possible),” Robredo said.
Robredo likewise urged the public to examine the candidates’ stand on labor rights and if they have been walking the talk.
She said astute politicians can easily make the public believe they are pro-labor by promising many things during the campaign period only to renege when they win.
“Often, policy writers will just say what the public wants to hear but my caveat here is let’s just not look at the policy but their track record,” she said.
