Vice President Leni Robredo. FILE PHOTO
Vice President Leni Robredo “need not necessarily” be the standard-bearer of the opposition as long as they rally around a single candidate to lead them to victory, a social development advocate and lead convener of the Kaya Natin! movement said on Sunday.
Harvey Keh, who is also board member of the Jesse Robredo Foundation, a nongovernment organization named after the Vice President’s late husband, said that she could still be the main convener for the opposition slate “in the hopes of coming up with a stronger and [more] united front against the administration.”
“[1Sambayan] may not be perfect but at least there is an effort to come up with a united candidate for the opposition in 2022,” he said in a Facebook post. “That’s the only way for the opposition to win: No one united candidate, no victory in 2022.”
The newly formed political coalition announced on Saturday that it was eyeing Robredo, Sen. Grace Poe, former Sen.Antonio Trillanes IV, Representatives Eddie Villanueva and Vilma Santos-Recto, and law dean Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno as possible presidential and vice presidential candidates.
With Robredo yet to officially announce her plans for the May 2022 elections, Keh said that her supporters need not worry since her previous decisions to run for public office had always been made at the last minute.
This was the case in 2013 when she ran against the Villafuertes for the congressional seat in the third district of Camarines Sur, and again in 2016 when she was approached by the Liberal Party to be Mar Roxas’ vice president.
“History has taught her and us that the early birds in the elections don’t always win,” Keh said, adding that “VP Leni has very good political instincts and let us trust that she would once again make the right decision in the 2022 elections.”