Vice President Leni Robredo speaks during a press conference on February 16, 2021. Jay Ganzon, OVP/File
MANILA — The opposition must be united and should only have one presidential candidate in the Philippines' national elections in 2022, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Monday.
According to Robredo, the opposition must accept that President Rodrigo Duterte is "very popular" among Filipinos despite several issues involving him and his officials in the past years.
Only a united front can challenge the administration's presidential bet in 2022, she said.
"To have many candidates running in the elections will only ensure another 6 years of victory of another same kind of governance that that last 5 years [have] given us," Robredo said in a leadership forum organized by the Cambridge University Filipino Society.
"And I'm not sure it's in the best interest of the country," she added.
ROBREDO IN 2022?
Asked if she will be running for the presidency in the upcoming elections, Robredo said she's looking into her campaign feasibility.
"A lot of people are rushing me to make a decision already when it's not that easy because the feasibility of a presidential run is one of the primary considerations," she said.
"It would require a lot of many different things because a run for the presidency is very much different from my previous run."
Robredo, an opposition figure largely due to her aversion to Duterte's drug war, has said she remains "open" to running for any possible position in the 2022 elections, but admitted that she is more attracted to local positions.
Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a possible presidential candidate, earlier said the opposition is "solidly behind and united" in supporting Robredo's awaited candidacy.
Robredo, chair of the Liberal Party, is being considered by the Liberal Party and opposition coalition 1SAMBAYAN as their candidate for next year's elections.
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