Vice President Leni Robredo remains open to a presidential bid in 2022, her camp said on Wednesday refuting Antonio Trillanes IV’s claim that she was planning to run for governor of Camarines Sur.
Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesman, said nothing was final as “VP Leni’s focus remains on the Covid-19 crisis.”
“She has not decided on 2022, and is not ‘preparing’ to run for governor. She remains open to all options, including a candidacy for president, and at the appropriate time, she will personally convey her decision on this matter,” he added.
Earlier, Trillanes expressed his intention to run for president in the 2022 national elections but only if Robredo would not.
“In view of VP Leni’s preparations to run for Governor of Camarines Sur in 2022, I, together with the Magdalo group, have decided to convey to the 1Sambayan Coalition to change my status from being an alternate candidate (to VP Leni) to being a principal candidate for president to vie for the coalition’s nomination. This move is necessary for my name to be included in 1SAMBAYAN’s selection process,” he said.
“In the event that VP Leni definitively decides to run for president before 1Sambayanpicks its nominees in July, I would wholeheartedly step aside and withdraw my own candidacy in her favor,” he added.
1Sambayan, an opposition coalition, was launched in March. Its initial choices for president and vice president include Robredo, Sen. Nancy Binay, Sen. Grace Poe, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso and Trillanes.
Its goal is to unite opposition forces and endorse candidates for the highest government spots to go against President Rodrigo Duterte’s bets in 2022.
Duterte has been floating the idea of his longtime aide, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, becoming his successor.
The president’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is also being touted by Duterte supporters as a 2022 presidential bet. John Ezekiel J. Hirro