MANILA, Philippines - After serious soul-searching and getting her children’s blessings, Camarines Sur Rep. Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo announced yesterday her decision to run for vice president under the Liberal Party (LP) in tandem with standard bearer Manuel Roxas II.
Her decision came after what she described as weeks of “agonizing” over the offer, personally made by President Aquino and Roxas during several meetings. Aquino has admitted talking to her children to convince them to let their mother run for vice president.
The President proclaimed the 51-year-old neophyte lawmaker as the administration party’s vice presidential bet amid loud cheers and a rain of confetti at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.
LP leaders and members, Cabinet officials and Robredo’s daughters Aika, Trisha and Jillian attended the event at 10 a.m.
“I thank my family, especially my three daughters, for giving their blessing. I would never go into this fight if they’re not with me,” Robredo told the crowd in Filipino.
She had initially intended to run for senator in 2016.
“The day has come that our family has tried very hard to face with courage. The journey to this day has not been easy. The past weeks have been most difficult for our family since Jesse passed away,” she said, referring to her late husband, Jesse Robredo, who died in a plane crash off Masbate in August 2012.
She said it took her a very long time to make a decision, with some of her critics calling her “pa-bebe,” a popular local slang referring to a person who is annoyingly playing coy.
She said when her name first came out as among the choices for possible running mate of Roxas, she asked herself: “Why me?”
“When we were agonizing, we – my children – were asking, ‘what would Jesse have done if he is faced with this challenge?’ We immediately knew the answer – no matter how difficult, he would not turn his back on anyone who needs his help. He would not sleep if he has not yet done everything to help the country,” Robredo said.
Robredo vowed to continue on a national scale her advocacy to empower the poor, the farmers, the fisherfolk, women and other marginalized sectors.
“I’m giving myself completely to our countrymen, especially to the crowd in slippers, who are excluded, at the bottom; and those at the margins of our society,” she said in reference to her husband’s simple ways of leadership, like appearing or working in public in flip-flops.
She said she learned valuable lessons in her years of working with ordinary folk and the poor.
“I found out the truth that the ordinary Filipino are the true source of strength and hope of our nation. I saw their innate dignity, talent and capacity to participate in leadership,” she said.
“I experienced and saw for myself that if given the slightest help to capacitate them, they have the better solutions to the problems we face,” she added.
Full support
Roxas, for his part, assured Robredo of full support and thanked her for her willingness to sacrifice to sustain the reforms set in place by the administration. Robredo is scheduled to fly today to Negros Occidental – considered a Roxas bailiwick – for a speaking engagement and radio interview.
“The straight path wanted you to serve as a unifying force in your district. We know that you did not aspire for it, much less aspired to become the vice president of the country. But the straight path needs you. Our bosses need you,” Roxas said in his speech.
“This battle will not be easy, but all of us are right behind you. More importantly, P-Noy (President Aquino) is behind us. Most of all, our bosses are behind us. With the help of God, we will be victorious,” he added.
Roxas also thanked Robredo’s daughters for finally supporting their mother’s decision to seek higher office despite their reservations.
“You made a big sacrifice for the country. I feel your anxiety about this decision. Your lives will be put on hold,” Roxas said.
“I hope you are comforted by the thought that if we could ask your Dad, if we had a lifeline to him, given the way he lived, we know that his reply would be: whatever will be good for the country, then so be it,” he added.
Low ratings
Robredo, however, will need more than just words of encouragement to win over her rivals.
She only got single digits in the latest Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations surveys on potential vice presidential bets, a development attributed to lack of public awareness.
Robredo got a measly three percent in the latest Pulse Asia survey released late last month.
Sen. Grace Poe, who is running for president as independent, topped the Pulse Asia survey with 24 percent. Her running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero, was in second place with 23 percent. Poe was LP’s original choice for Roxas’ running mate.
Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ranked third with 13 percent while Sen. Alan Cayetano, who announced his plan to join the vice presidential race last week, got nine percent.
Another vice presidential candidate, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, was preferred by four percent of the respondents.
Robredo did not fare any better in the latest SWS survey on preferred vice presidential candidates. She scored two percent in the survey, as against Poe’s 25 percent, Escudero’s 18 percent, Marcos’ six percent and Cayetano’s three percent.
LP stalwarts, however, are confident that Robredo’s numbers will improve.
LP president and Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya expressed belief Robredo’s sincerity would be her advantage.
“I think voters will listen to the vice presidential candidate who is sincere and who is not fooling around,” Abaya said.
“I think people will have no doubt at all that she (Robredo) is sincere and is speaking from the heart,” he added.
When asked to react to criticisms that Aquino did not give her husband a permanent appointment, Abaya said: “These are just intrigues. At this point in time most important is to look forward. Those comments are merely intrigue to cause division within the party.
“We’ve gone past that. We are public servants and what is important is how we can explain to the public the importance of sustaining the straight path,” he added. Aquino appointed Jesse Robredo as interior secretary in 2010 but only made him a permanent appointee the following year.
Seeking forgiveness
Aquino said he hopes Robredo’s daughters will forgive him for asking their mother to make a sacrifice by running for vice president.
Aquino also warned critics to spare Robredo and her daughters from dirty politics.
In his speech during the proclamation of Robredo as Roxas’ running mate, the President told the congresswoman and her children Aika, Trisha and Jillian that he was aware of the hardships they would have to go through because the congresswoman’s decision to accept LP’s offer.
“Just a reminder to our opponents who are used to traditional politics, maybe at this moment they already want to attack our candidate Leni and make it difficult for their children,” Aquino said.
“When Jesse passed, the foster fathers of these children became many. Personalan na tayo kung doon kayo hahantong (We’ll get personal if that is where we’re headed),” Aquino said.
While Robredo and her children had tried to go back to normal lives after Jesse died in a plane crash in 2012, Aquino said things instead became more difficult as the widow was asked to run for a congressional seat and fight a political dynasty in their province, Aquino said.
The President said the Robredos knew the challenges they had to face to win a campaign and how complicated politics was in this country.
“But they chose to do what was right. They proved that they would rather face difficulties than let an opportunity to effect change pass,” Aquino said.
“Thank you, Leni and your children. The party and I will do everything to make you feel that you are not alone,” he said.
No regrets
Aquino, who himself had never planned to run for president until the death of his mother in 2009, said he still would have chosen to run had he known ahead of time the difficulties he would be facing.
The President said Roxas had sacrificed as well when the latter gave way to him in 2009 for the sake of party unity.
Roxas was LP’s presumptive standard bearer for the 2010 elections but he stepped down to be Aquino’s vice president when the clamor for Aquino to run snowballed and his ratings in various surveys soared.
Aquino said endless media criticisms, sleepless nights, missed meals were among the challenges they would have to endure and hope to overcome with the support of the people.
Now that his term is about to end, the President said he and his officials can proudly declare that they have never taken advantage of the mandate given them in 2010 and that they have done their best to serve the Filipino people.
Aquino said the economic progress under his administration has transformed the country from the “Sick Man of Asia” into “Asia’s Brightest Spot.”
To be continued
The President, in the gathering called “Daang Matuwid: To be continued,” said he did not do things alone and that he was only trying to continue what former LP leaders and members – including his as well as Roxas’ and Jesse’s fathers – had started. “Country before self. That is the mark of the Liberal Party,” Aquino said.
The President said Roxas neither asked for a compromise nor engaged in debates to push for his personal ambition in 2009. He also compared Robredo to his late mother, who also had to continue the fight of his father, former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. With Aurea Calica, Danny Dangcalan