Leading vice presidential candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo on Thursday thanked Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano for conceding defeat to her and calling her the clear winner in the tight vice presidential race.
“Nagpapasalamat tayo sa pahayag ni Senador Alan Peter Cayetano ukol sa resulta ng eleksyon (I would like to thank Senador Alan Peter Cayetano for his statement on the election results),” Robredo said.
In a statement, Cayetano, the running mate of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte, said he is conceding to Robredo whom he called the clear winner.
READ: Cayetano concedes, says Leni Robredo ‘clearly won’ VP race
“I humbly concede my vice presidential bid to Rep. Leni Robredo, who, by all accounts and with 96% of the votes already tallied, is our country’s presumptive Vice President-elect. Rep. Leni is not only leading the race, she has clearly won it,” Cayetano said.
Robredo said she would continue to coordinate with Cayetano in her bid to help uplift the lives of the poor.
“Nananatili tayong bukas sa pakikipagtulungan sa kanya para sa patuloy na pag-unlad ng buhay ng ating kababayan (I am willing to cooperate with him to improve the lives of our countrymen),” Robredo said.
Robredo expressed hope that the tight vice presidential race with Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would come to an end so that the country can focus on healing the wounds brought about by the elections.
“Tayo’y umaasa na matatapos na ito sa lalong madaling panahon at masimulan na ang paghilom ng ating bayan (I am hoping that this would end soon so our country would heal),” Robredo said.
According to the latest unofficial and partial count in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Transparency Server as of 12:45 p.m., Robredo maintained her 200,000 vote lead over Marcos.
Robredo got 13,981,789 votes or 35.12 percent, while Marcos got 13,769,527 votes or 34.59 percent, according to the unofficial count from 95.79 percent of the total 92,509 clustered precincts.
Refusing to accept defeat, the camp of Marcos accused the administration of being behind the execution of a new computer command in the Comelec transparency server that allegedly shaved some votes from Marcos and increased the votes for Robredo.
READ: Bongbong hints LP behind alleged server anomaly
Marcos had also decried the alleged massive cheating by the Liberal Party, supposedly the administration’s “Plan B,” to rig the elections to make Robredo win and then have Duterte impeached to have the Liberals regain control of Malacañang.
READ: Marcos on Robredo lead: ‘Plan B’ in full swing
Robredo earlier said it was unfair for Marcos to accuse her of cheating without substantiating it.
“Napakaunfair na masabing nandadaya na hindi mo naman sinasubstantiate (It’s so unfair to accuse someone of cheating without substantiating your claim),” Robredo said in a press briefing on Tuesday. RAM/rga
READ: Robredo dares critics: Prove accusations of LP poll cheating