Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo, an archrival of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and staunch critic of his deadly drug war, yesterday said she would run for the top job, becoming the leading opposition candidate in a crowded election field.
Robredo has been under pressure from supporters and opposition groups to join next year’s presidential race, but she has been well behind the front-runners in opinion polls.
Analysts say the even-tempered former congresswoman could struggle.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I will fight, we will fight,” Robredo, 56, said, declaring herself a presidential candidate.
“We will defeat the archaic and rotten style of politics,” she added.
President and vice president are elected separately in the Philippines. Robredo quit Duterte’s Cabinet less than six months after he was sworn in, after a presidential aide told her she had been barred from its meetings.
Her decision comes after her nemesis Ferdinand Marcos Jr, son and namesake of the country’s former dictator, said on Tuesday he would run for president.
Robredo narrowly defeated Marcos for the nation’s second-highest office in 2016, dealing a blow to the political aspirations of the powerful clan as they sought to rehabilitate their image.
Marcos — an ally of Duterte and a defender of the narcotics crackdown that has killed thousands of people — fought a nearly five-year legal battle challenging the vote, but lost in February when the Supreme Court rejected the protest.
Marcos was in second place behind Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, in a recent Pulse Asia Research poll, although she has denied plans to run.
Robredo was a distant sixth, trailing boxing great Manny Pacquiao and celebrity mayor Francisco Domagoso, who have confirmed they would seek the presidency; and Philippine Senator Grace Poe, who has not.
Most of the top candidates have supported the drug war, which is being investigated by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.
Duterte has repeatedly attacked Robredo since taking power in 2016 on a promise to rid the country of drugs.
Among other things, she opposed Duterte’s plan to bring back the death penalty and his decision to allow the embalmed body of Ferdinand Marcos to be buried at the national heroes’ cemetery.
So far, more than 40 candidates have registered to run for president in the May election, but the field would narrow significantly in the coming months.
Election season kicked off this month, with the candidates flocking to the offices of the elections commission to file their nominations.
The process launched a typically noisy and deadly seven months of campaigning for more than 18,000 positions, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn caused by lockdowns expected to dampen the atmosphere.
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