MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday said that presidential aspirant Isko Moreno Domagoso's stance on the Marcos family "in a way" pushed her to run against the Manila Mayor in the upcoming 2022 national elections.

Domagoso earlier said that the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos should be given a chance to prove and redeem themselves decades after the atrocities committed during martial law.

"I don't want to go into details pero sa akin kasi mayroong mga non-negotiable and yung mga Marcos, non-negotiable yun sa akin," she said.

(I don't want to go into details but I have several non-negotiables and the Marcoses are non-negotiables to me.)

"Maraming points na hindi kami aligned. Mahirap ipilit yung unity kung sa basic na prinsipyo hindi kayo nagkakaisa," she said.

(There are a lot of points where we are not aligned. It's hard to force unity when we are not united even in the basic principles.)

Domagoso, who positioned himself as a "healing president", said in an interview last month that former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should prove to all Filipinos "that he is different" from his father.

Marcos Jr. is also running for president in next year's elections.

• Isko Moreno says Bongbong Marcos, family should 'prove a lot of things'

Before filing her certificate of candidacy on October 7, Robredo had been speaking to other presidential contenders in hopes of having a unified opposition who would compete with the Duterte administration's ticket.

"Ngayon iba na ang laban... Hindi lang pagbabalik ng anak ng diktador pero laban sa masamang pamamahala, bulok na klase ng pulitika," she said.

(Now, the fight is different... We are not just standing up against the return of the dictator's son, but we are also fighting against bad governance and a rotten kind of politics.)

Robredo, who has lawyered for abuse victims, defeated Marcos Jr. in the 2016 vice presidential race.

While lines for a possible unification are still open, Robredo said that her focus has already changed.

"Hindi na ako ganun ka-concerned ngayon than when I was first starting [the unity talks]," she said.

(I am no longer as concerned as when I was first starting the unity talks.)

"Kami talaga ang oposisyon in the sense na umpisa pa lang, kami ang nakipaglaban talaga."

(We are the real opposition in the sense that even from the start, we were the ones already fighting.)

Robredo has always been vocal against the Marcoses' return to power.

During the 49th anniversary on the Martial Law declaration, Robredo emphasized the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos has never fully paid for his crimes, and that his family still benefits from the wealth they illegally acquired while in power.

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