Bulacan gov thinks it’s Robredo who can lift Filipino lives

Back in Bulacan, Vice President Leni Robredo joins Gov. Daniel Fernando on stage at the Bulacan Sports Complex in Malolos. (Photo from the VP Leni Mediai Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando has a quick answer when asked he chose to endorse the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo: “Why not?”

But Fernando enumerated reasons by Robredo should be the next president when the lone female candidate for the post returned to Bulacan on Wednesday for her final sortie before the May 2022 general elections. Robredo had a live feed of the event.

“Their question is: Why Leni? My question is this: Why not?” Fernando, speaking in Filipino, told Bulaqueños at the Bulacan Sports Complex in Malolos, the provincial capital.

“Okay, to be honest, nowadays, we need a partner, right?  She is a leader who’s honest, caring, and responsible, right? Right?” he went on. “I believe deep in my heart that she is very capable of improving the lives of every Filipino… What our country needs is a leader who has a feeling for the situation of her citizens, who knows what’s right from wrong, who has no taint of corruption.”

Fernando went on to say that he saw other good attributes in Robredo.

Robredo’s brand of leadership, he said, has been an inspiration for him.

“All of these we have seen in our Vice President Leni Robredo. She served as the voice of the poor and the people who have no voice in society. She’s the inspiration of many Filipinos, especially of the Filipino youth,” Fernando said.

“The province of Bulacan, as the home of the first free republic of Asia, is ready to welcome the light of a new republic, right?” he asked the crowd, who responded in the affirmative.

Last March 14, Fernando surprised political observers last when he endorsed Robredo for president, amid speculations that he would endorse former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The governor made the endorsement a week after Robredo toured Bulacan, gathering a crowd of over 40,000.

The endorsement would be important for Robredo because Bulacan is the fifth most vote-rich region in the country, with over two million voters.

In the 2016 vice-presidential elections, when Robredo and Marcos first faced off, Robredo lost in Bulacan by over 190,000 votes.

Marcos is currently the survey frontrunner in the presidential race.

Early in April, the polling firm Pulse Asia said that Marcos got 56 percent of the votes if elections had been held from March 17 to 21.  Robredo’s voter share increased, but she only got 24 percent.

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