BY JOSE PAOLO S. DELA CRUZ
Citing the need to take a stand and fight for change, Vice President Leni Robredo today announced that she will be running for President in the May 2022 polls. “Itataya ko ang lahat, ibubuhos ko ang lahat ng kayang ibuhos. ( I will stake everything, I will give all that I can give…” she said.
Clad in a blue blouse with a bright pink ribbon pinned on her chest, Robredo said that her decision came after months of prayer, soul-searching and contemplation. “Buong-buo ang loob ko ngayon: Kailangan nating palayain ang sarili mula sa kasalukuyang situwasyon. Lalaban ako; lalaban tayo. Inihahain ko ang aking sarili bilang kandidato sa pagka-Pangulo sa halalan ng 2022,” she said.
In the end, her love for country and feeling of responsibility prevailed, convincing her to gun for Malacañang. “Nanay ako hindi lang ng tatlong anak ko, kundi ng buong bansa. At alam ng lahat ng bawat nanay, bawat magulang, kung ano ang kaya nilang pagdaanan at ng isakripisyo sa ngalan ng kanilang mga anak,” she said in her speech.
Considered as an underdog in recent popularity surveys, the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo’s widow also vowed that she will win the race for the Filipino people, just as she did when she heeded the call for Vice Presidency in 2010. “Tatalunin natin ang luma at bulok na klase ng politika. Ibabalik natin sa kamay ng karaniwang Pilipino ang kakayahang magdala ng pagbabago,” she added. “Ibubuhos ko ng buong-buo ang aking lakas, hindi lang para sa halalan, kundi para sa bayan.”
Aside from enumerating the housing, pandemic response and social amelioration projects of the Office of the Vice President, Robredo also took a jab on fence sitters, saying that real change requires one to take a stand. “Kung makikipag-kompromiso ka, kung hindi mo man lang kayang sabihin na mali ang mali, nakaninong panig ka ba talaga?”she said. “Malinaw, kung nasaan ako. Nasa panig tayo ng mga isinisagad ang lahat para mairaos ang sarili,ang kapwa, ang pamilya mula sa pandemya na ito… Hindi pwedeng pumikit na lamang at umasang pag-gising natin, nagbago na ang mundo.”
Last month, the 1Sambayan Group Robredo as its presidential contender. Robredo, according to the group’s leader, Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, was chosen for her “integrity, competence, track record, patriotism, vision for our country and winnability,” among other criteria. The VP is yet to announce her acceptance of the nomination.
In an interview with PeopleAsia editor-in-chief Joanne Rae Ramirez last December, Robredo said: “When my husband was still alive and when I was asked to run, I would say, ‘over my dead body.’ When they were asking me to run for VP, ang nasa isip ko, ano namang gagawin ko dyan? (I thought, what will I do there?), I’m so new in politics and there are a lot of people who are better prepared. But, I ran. If you ask me, I don’t want to run for President, but I don’t want to say I will never run because I might eat my words again,” she told Ramirez.
