VICE President Leni Robredo yesterday said lack of resources and the absence of a political machinery will not be a problem for her presidential run next year as long as she enjoys the people’s support.
Robredo is chairwoman of the opposition Liberal Party but is running as an independent candidate. She said she does not have the resources to match her rivals’ because she did not prepare for a presidential run.
She said her original plan was to either take a rest from politics or run for a local position in Camarines Sur, that was why she tried hard to unify all anti-administration forces. What changed her mind was the nomination of the 1Sambayan Coalition, a group led by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.
The Vice President said she was surprised when she saw the people’s “overwhelming” support last Thursday, when she finally announced her decision to seek the presidency and filed her certificate of candidacy later in the day.
She said she was not expecting the public’s overwhelming reaction when she declared she was gunning for the presidency because “we thought only our supporters would be glad.”
“After the announcement, ang dami talagang nag-vo-volunteer. Ang daming gumagastos ng sariling pera. Ang iba nga nakikita ko na lang sa Facebook. Ang daming nag-iisip ng mga paraan kung paano makatulong (After the announcement, many people volunteered and are spending their own money. Some of it, I just saw on Facebook. Many people are thinking of ways to help),” she said.
Robredo said the lack of resources and the absence of a political machinery will pose a challenge during the campaign period but she remains confident that the people’s support is enough to secure victory.
“Wala tayong makinarya pero ‘yung suporta ng taumbayan nagpapakita na ‘pag taumbayan na talaga ‘yung nag-desisyong gumalaw, wala nang laban ‘yung laki ng makinarya ng iba.
Kasi tao na ‘to (I have no machinery but the people’s support shows that they are the ones taking action, so the other candidates’ machinery won’t matter because it’s the people, themselves),” she said on her weekly radio program.
She said other presidential aspirants prepared for years for their run, unlike her who decided to rise to the challenge at the last minute.
While it was a difficult endeavor, Robredo said, she is ready to take on the challenge “if we feel that this is the right thing to do.”
Robredo also said when the unification talks she had pushed with three presidential aspirants — Senators Panfilo Lacson and Emmanuel Pacquiao, and Manila Mayor Francisco
“Isko Moreno” Domagoso — failed, there was even a point when she was trying to choose who among them to support so she could go home to Naga City and focus on a local campaign.
When the desired outcome of the talks did not materialize, that was when she realized it was hard to unite forces running against the administration.
“Mahirap mag-unite ‘pag mayroong hindi alignment sa mga paniniwala, mayroong hindi pareho sa gustong daan na tahakin (It’s hard to unite if there is no alignment in beliefs, and if there are some who want to take different paths),” she said.
‘BATO MIGHT MAKE IT’
President Duterte expressed belief that Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has a good fighting chance to become president of the country, even if he is a “last-minute” choice as standard bearer of a faction of ruling party PDP-Laban.
The President, in an interview after dinner with pastor Apollo Quiboloy in Davao City on Friday night, said there are many individuals who are running for president in 2022, and this gives Dela Rosa a good chance.
“He might still make it, with so many candidates filing their certificates of candidacies, you can never tell the destiny of man,” Duterte said.
He also said he thinks it is a good idea to have “a military man as president” of the country.
Dela Rosa is Duterte’s first chief of the Philippine National Police, and is a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1986. After his stint at the PNP from 2016 to 2018. Dela Rosa was named by Duterte as head of the Bureau of Corrections and served in that post for almost six months before running for senator in 2019.
The President said the PDP-Laban faction under him and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi did not have someone to lead its candidates in 2022 and decided on the last day of the filing of certificate of candidacy to have a standard bearer. Dela Rosa filed his COC on Friday, the last day of filing..
The Cusi faction’s first choice for president was Sen. Christopher Go with Duterte as vice president. Go declined the nomination and is now the faction’s vice presidential candidate.
The other faction is headed by Pacquiao and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III. Its vice presidential bet is Rep. Lito Atienza of the party-list group Buhay.
“I think PDP decided at the last minute, during the last day of filing of the certificates, that it would be good to have at least a head of the whole team,” Duterte said.
Dela Rosa’s filing of COC did not stop speculations that presidential daughter Davao City Sara Duterte-Carpio could still end up as the faction’s presidential bet. Substitute candidates may file their COCs until November 15.
But the President, also on Friday, said, “Inday is definitely out as she has said earlier and for the oft-repeated statements in so many interviews, she has always maintained that she’s not running. She was just true to her words,” he said.
Duterte-Carpio last week filed her candidacy for reelection.
Duterte earlier said it will be a Sara-Go team in 2022.
Dela Rosa, in several interviews, said he had the President’s blessings to run for president but he was willing to give way to Duterte-Carpio should she run for president. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
