With the clock winding down toward the filing of certificates of candidacies (COCs), recent developments in the national scene provided a clearer picture for the country’s voters as to whom to choose as their next leaders in the next six years.
Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas secured Camarines Norte Rep. Leni Robredo as his running mate, ending speculations that outgoing President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, would have to jump in to be his tandem just to continue the “Daang Matuwid” (straight path) agenda.
Talk of a Mar-Leni or “Ro-Ro” tandem were rife in the weeks leading to the final announcement.
Robredo, at one point, was asked whether she would run with Roxas in an interview over ABS-CBN’s “Arangkada” program hosted by station manager Leo Lastimosa in Cebu.
Coincidentally, former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña was in the same program. He joined in the chorus of voices urging Jesse Robredo’s widow to say yes.
Eventually it took President Aquino to convince the single mother and her three daughters to make a second sacrifice, to take on more work, endure political intrigues and open up more of their lives in the public eye, despite the uncertainty of victory in a field dominated by political veterans, all senators – Francis Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Bongbong Marcos, Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV.
Her entry in the VP race will divide the formidable Bicol vote, which counts Escudero and Honasan among its natives competing for a national post. It remains to be seen how strong Robredo’s hold in the Bicol region is considering that she and her late husband Jesse managed to break the dominance of the Villafuerte dynasty there.
At least she can count on the proclaimed support of Cebuano LP leaders like former mayor Osmeña, if he can find time for sorties outside of the province given his focused comeback campaign against incumbent Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.
The influential Durano clan, who gave LP candidates like Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III a decisive victory in 2013 with their pull in the 5th district, is expected to support her.
One of her biggest fans is Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, the Duranos’ most visible provincial official. Magpale called her a “natural”, a modest but empowered woman who doesn’’t come across as a traditional politician. The two women have a special bond as widows who had long been in the advocacy of women’s and children’s welfare, pushing the cause with more warm encouragement than shouting.
As the only female in the vice presidential race, ranged against an unusual number of strong bets, Robredo is in a position to prove that she can make the difference for an aloof Mar Roxas, and connect to voters weary of “trapo” choices who are looking for a strong no. 2 leader.
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