Leni, De Lima not interested in VP post

ORMOC CITY, Philippines – Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo will decide this month on running for a Senate seat or just seek reelection in the province’s second congressional district next year.

The run for the Senate, she added, will only occur if her survey ratings improve and when her party is sure of winning against a political family that intends to make a comeback in May 2016.

Robredo also reiterated her lack of interest to become the running mate of administration presidential bet Mar Roxas, saying she is not gunning for it or even toying with the idea.

“It is not in the horizon,” she stressed.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima also reiterated her desire to run for the Senate, not the vice presidential post.

De Lima said running for vice president is “definitely out of my psyche.”

“I don’t think that is possible. I don’t know. No one has talked to me and I am definitely not interested. Definitely out of my psyche. What I am only focused now is the senatorial. Anything beyond that will not happen. Anything beyond that I am not ready.”  

She did say, however, that it warms her heart on reports that she is being considered as running mate for Roxas.

“But really I am telling you if somebody will ask me, even from LP (Liberal Party), I will definitely say no,” De Lima added.

For her part, Robredo visited Ormoc on the invitation of KAABAG Ormoc (Kalihukan Alang sa Bag-ong Ormoc) to speak on good governance and to induct new members. Kaabag is a local group of concerned city residents advocating good governance.

She said she might consider running for the Senate if her performance in the surveys improves.

Recent surveys showed that she enjoys “just 58 percent awareness rating” when political experts are saying she would need at least 90 percent to win.

The lady lawmaker added that the possibility of a Senate run has been discussed at the party level and that she told party officers that “it is an option” she entertains.

Robredo, wife of the late interior secretary Jesse Robredo, promised to give her final decision by either mid-September or at the end of the month.

Aside from the popularity factor, she is also considering the political movements in her own district pointing out that the Villafuerte family threatens to make a comeback. – With Evelyn Macairan