Robredo camp on recent substitutions in polls: ‘Nakita na natin ‘yang drama na ganyan’

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo was unsurprised by the recent political developments in the country ahead of the 2022 elections.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Saturday filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for vice president.

Soon after, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go lodged his candidacy for the presidency in the upcoming polls.

President Duterte, meanwhile, revealed that he will run for vice president, possibly contesting against his daughter, but has yet to file his COC.

“Si VP Leni, chill lang… Matagal na naman nating alam na papunta dito. Nakita na natin ‘yang drama na ganyan. Alam na natin ‘yung mga ganyang klaseng drama, ‘yung talagang pipigain at aabusuhin ‘yung proseso ng substitution,” Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said in BISErbisyong LENI on DZXL.

(VP Leni is just chill… We all know that we would end up here. We have seen this drama before. We know that kind of drama where the process of substitution will be abused.)

“‘Di ba halos babalik-baliktarin nila ‘yung ulo ng mga tao sa ganito. Nakita na natin ‘yan. Nagawa na ‘yan dati. ‘Di na ‘yan bago,” he added.

(It’s as if they shuffle people’s heads with this. We’ve seen this before. It has been done. It’s not new.)

In 2015, Duterte withdrew his COC for Davao City mayor and formalized his bid to join the presidential race which led to his victory in the 2016 polls.

“In fact, lahat ng tao ‘yan na ‘yung ine-expect na mangyayari na sa dulo, magkakaroon ng mga last minute na substitution. Pero sa pananaw ni VP Leni ang importante, tutok tayo sa ating kampanya, tutok tayo sa lalong pagpapalakas ng ating hanay, do’n sa pagpapakilos ng ating mga volunteers sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng ating bansa at slowly but surely, ‘yun ‘yung paglakas ng ating hanay, ‘yung pagtaas ng ating numero papunta sa tagumpay sa May 2022,” Gutierrez said.

(In fact, everyone already expected that there will be last-minute substitution. But for VP Leni, what’s important is to focus on our campaign, to strengthen our forces, and mobilizing our volunteers across the country and slowly but surely, increasing our numbers which would lead to victory in May 2022.)

According to Gutierrez, the recent political developments are “disheartening” as Filipinos are still reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Sa totoo lang, ang personal kong pananaw dito, alam mo ‘yun, parang—hindi ko na sana papansinin kasi ‘di ba alam naman nating mahilig sila sa ganyan pero ang daming problema. Ang dami nating problema. Ang dami nating kailangang asikasuhin pangunahin na itong COVID kasama ‘yung pagbagsak ng ating ekonomiya, ‘yung madaming nawalan ng trabaho. Halos magda-dalawang taon nang ‘di nakakapasok ‘yung mga anak natin,” he lamented.

(My personal view on this is — I do not want to comment on it because we know that is what they want — but we have many problems. We have a lot to work on mainly the COVID pandemic, including the downfall of our economy and unemployment. It has also been almost two years since the students were in school.)

“Tapos ‘yung makikita mo, ‘yung mga lider mo, ito ‘yung inaatupag ‘di ba. Kung ano-anong mga drama, sabi nga niyo, teleserye, sabi nung iba, circus. Parang nakakapanghina lang ba ng loob na makita na ‘yung mga taong inaasahan dapat natin na manguna sa paglutas at pagtutok sa marami nating mga problema, ito ‘yung pinag-aaksayahan ng oras,” he said.

(And amidst all this, you see your leaders busy with this drama, or like you said, this teleserye or circus. It is disheartening to see that the people we should depend on solving and focusing on our problems are wasting their time over this matter.)

Gutierrez also noted that Robredo is the only one who has plans and responses to those problems.

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