Duterte Senate run not my business, says Robredo

Vice President Leni Robredo INQUIRER PHOTO

Vice President Leni Robredo said in Negros Occidental on Saturday that she cannot and will not meddle if President Duterte chooses to run for senator.

“If he decides to make a senatorial run, that’s up to him,” Robredo told reporters in Murcia town, adding that she would rather focus on her campaign and “let [others] be.”

She said she was more concerned with the seeming abuse of the substitution option for candidates in the Omnibus Election Code, or Batas Pambansa Blg. 881.

“I hope the law against substitution gets revisited so it won’t get abused … to put a plug on the loopholes as to why it gets abused,” she said, referring to Section 77 of the election code.

The provision allows the substitution of candidates in cases of death, withdrawal or disqualification of the original candidate.

Placeholder now a trend

There have been many incidents of candidate substitution even before BP 881, one of the more well-known being the 1967 case of La Union Rep. Magnolia Antonino, who successfully ran for senator in lieu of her popular husband Sen. Gaudencio Antonino, who died on the eve of the elections.

The latest incident was in 2016 when then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte withdrew his candidacy for reelection and instead joined the presidential race as a last-minute substitute for Martin Diño, who was the standard-bearer of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan party at the time.

“When we had a major substitution in 2016, it seemed like it’s now a trend to put a placeholder, but other candidates will run on their behalf,” Robredo said.

‘People’s fight’

For the 2022 elections, the Commission on Elections set the period for the filing of certificates of candidacy from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8. The substitution deadline is on Nov. 15.Nonetheless, the Vice President said she was more focused on her own campaign and had become “more hopeful” because of the support she has been getting.

“This is not just ordinary support,” Robredo said. “It’s as if people are looking at the 2022 elections as their personal fight. If we are able to sustain this level of energy and passion, we will have a very good chance,” she said.