Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo CDN FILE PHOTO/LITO TECSON
KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato, Philippines — Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo said on Tuesday, she was not running for the vice presidency in the 2016 elections.
Robredo, who graced the Kalivungan Festival, which marked the culmination of activities for the 101st anniversary of North Cotabato, told reporters here the move of some groups and individuals aimed at convincing her to run alongside Interior Secretary Mar Roxas has been overwhelming.
“It just came out of the blue. The idea maybe came too soon. I am not prepared,” she said.
“Running for the country’s second highest post was never an option,” Robredo said, adding that besides a possible Senate run, she might also stand for reelection.
“I never dreamed of becoming a vice president. There are many others who have the capability and experience for that position,” she said.
Robredo said she would rather bat for Senator Peter Alan Cayetano or Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos as Roxas’ running mate.
She said even in her meetings with Roxas, there was no talk of her running for the country’s second highest post.
Robredo said her decision not to run for vice president was final.
Robredo said she has been leaning more towards a Senate run although she would have to work more to improve the level of the public’s awareness of her as reflected in the surveys.
She cited a recent survey of possible senatorial candidates, in which she only placed 23rd.
But Robredo, who defeated a well-entrenched political clan in the 2013 congressional election in Camarines Sur’s third district, believed that the “tsinelas leadership” of her husband – the late Interior secretary Jesse Robredo – which she has also been espousing would help her convince voters to support her.
She said her husband was known for his simple lifestyle as reflected in the slippers he wore when he went around checking government projects in Naga City and talking to people to get to know what they needed from the local government. It was the same simple lifestyle that she and her children have inherited.
Living a simple life kept her from falling into the trap of corruption, which so many politicians had fallen into, she said.
Robredo told reporters that she and her children have elected to continue living in a small apartment in Naga City as they had done when Jesse Robredo was still alive.
Robredo is also known to commute from Metro Manila to Naga despite the resources available to her as an elected member of Congress. SFM