Leni Robredo’s challenge

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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