Robredo to Bongbong: Accept poll results first

MANILA, Philippines — Learn to accept election results, or don’t run.

This unsolicited advice was dished out by Vice President Leni Robredo to her political rival, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday.

“If he wants to run again, he should do so, it’s his right. But if he runs again, he should make sure that he would accept the results of the elections,” she said in an interview.

Robredo is facing an electoral protest filed by Marcos, whom she defeated in the 2016 vice presidential race by over 200,000 votes.

“Those running for public office should accept the results of the elections. Because if you run and lost, and won’t accept it, maybe you should no longer run,” she said.

The Supreme Court, convened as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), has finished the vote recount in the three pilot provinces identified by Marcos in his protest.

Robredo said she increased her lead over Marcos by almost 15,000 votes, following the revision and recount of ballots from the pilot provinces – Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental – Marcos chose.  

Under PET Rule 65, the protest may be dismissed “without further consideration of the other provinces” if the protestant fails to make a “substantial recovery” in the three pilot provinces.

Marcos, son and namesake of the late dictator, earlier announced he will run for a national post in 2022.

“I can be a congressman, I can be a senator. If I retire, I can be governor in Ilocos Norte,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Robredo laughed off Marcos’ call for a revision of history textbooks that cast a shadow over their family and his father’s regime.

Marcos said his family’s recent court victories proved decades-old criminal accusations against them were false.

“That one is slightly hilarious,” Robredo said in Filipino. “I agree that there is (something) lacking in our education system, in the sense that our students were not taught well on the effects of the dictatorship before. Because if it’s effective, the things that happened during those days should no longer be happening now.”  

The Vice President also said she is not yet thinking of her political plans in 2022, maintaining that the presidency is a matter of destiny.

“Politics is not an ambition. For me, no matter how much you prepare, if it’s not for you, it’s not for you,” she said in an interview with GMA 7.