The Philippines: Opposition leader Leni Robredo runs for president

• Vice President Leni Robredo’s lengthy process of discernment is over and she has come to a decision: She is running for president in the 2022 elections, which she believes is crucial to ending President Rodrigo Duterte’s brand of leadership.
• She is running as an independent candidate.
• Robredo, the de facto leader of the opposition, took aim at the “old” and “rotten” politics she said is prevailing, warning that no change can happen should the same people behind this kind of governance win in 2022’s polls.
• The vice president, who previously said that her party, the Liberal Party, has been “decimated,” acknowledged that her presidential run will be an uphill climb as she does not have a strong political machinery unlike her opponents.
• Still she is undeterred as she banked on her avid supporters whom she called on to go beyond their usual circles and expand their ranks.
• The announcement of her presidential bid comes just two days after her rival former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said he is running for president in the polls.
• In her speech, however, Robredo gave a snapshot of the unity talks, saying that she made it clear that she could give way, while some offered her to be their candidate and others offered her a position in their administration should they win.

External Link : https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/10/07/2132184/leni-robredo-announces-presidential-bid/