GETTING TO KNOW HER Vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo stumps in Tondo on Thursday. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
As the race for Vice President becomes tighter a full month before the polls, the ruling Liberal Party’s bet Leni Robredo has expounded on what she considers the missing key to her victory—the votes of Metro Manila.
Visiting vote-rich Tondo in the city of Manila on Thursday, Robredo admitted that the awareness level of her campaign in the National Capital Region remained low compared with the Visayas and Mindanao where she is rating very high.
“We all know how difficult this fight is,” said Robredo, who is running on anticorruption and pro-poor platform.
According to the Commission on Elections, Metro Manila has 6,253,249 registered voters, with 974,479 coming from the city of Manila.
Robredo, the only woman in the six-way race, said she’s up against five big names in politics. And unlike her, the five men were all senators who have all won national seats.
Despite this, her nationwide rating dramatically increased from 1 percent in October 2015 to 23 percent this month. And although she’s tied with two other candidates, their ratings have dropped while hers continues to spike.
In her low-pitched tone, Robredo explained to the crowd, composed mostly of women and senior citizens, that the surveys have shown that she needs a higher awareness level in the metro in order for her to win the race.
For this to happen, Robredo asked her supporters to help her by informing their families and neighbors about her and her candidacy.
“Surveys show that I’m the runaway winner in the Visayas. I place first and second in a neck-and-neck race in Mindanao. In Southern Luzon, I’m No. 1. But you know how I fare in Metro Manila? I only got 12 percent in awareness level,” she said.
‘Time running out’
“That’s why I’m asking help from you. Time is running out and I only have 32 days left. If I had a choice, I would scour the whole of Manila. I’ll surely win if my ratings go up in Manila,” she said.
Robredo, a congresswoman from Naga, is also the only candidate who is not an incumbent senator. Her congressional term will expire on June 30.
In an interview after her speech, Robredo surmised that her low ratings in Manila may have to do with the traditionally anti-administration sentiment in the capital. But she is confident that this will change once the public becomes more aware of what she has done, what she plans do, and what she stands for.
“In the end, it’s the character of the candidate that people will look at,” she said.
Robredo said she will be devoting more campaign time in Metro Manila to allow the voters to share their sentiments with her. What she wants is a dialogue type of campaigning as she longs to hear what metro residents have to say.
She declined to comment on the weaknesses of her opponents, saying “it would not sound right if that would come from me.”
“Let’s focus on my strengths,” she said.
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