Vice President Leni Robredo is rumored to be running for governor of her home province of Camarines Sur instead of president in 2022.
Social media went abuzz with reports that Robredo is not vying for the presidency, leaving the political opposition with no standard-bearer for next year’s polls.
Robredo is the chairwoman of the opposition Liberal Party.
Twitter user @lpeLustre floated Robredo’s seeming preference not to seek the highest position in the land.
“Hindi katapusan ng mundo kung ayaw ni Leni. Mas gusto niya tumakbo bilang gobernador ng Camarines Sur. Hindi natin siya mapipilit. Siya ang magdesisyon,” a portion of his post read.
(It is not the end of the world if Leni doesn’t want to. She would rather run for governor of Camarines Sur. We can’t force her. She will be one to decide)
Last week, an insider from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) also raised such possibility.
Miguel “Migz” Villafuerte is in his last term as governor of Camarines Sur. The Villafuerte clan has been running the province for more than three decades.
Talks of Robredo running for president have been rife since 2016, when she was elected in office, but she has yet to disclose her political plans for 2022.
Robredo is among the potential successor of President Duterte based on latest polls surveys. She ranked sixth to seventh.
Her spokesperson, Barry Gutierrez, had previously said they “do not really pay much mind” to these survey results because Robredo is more focused on coronavirus pandemic response efforts.