A face-off between Vice President Leni Robredo and presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in the May 2022 is appearing most likely as Filipinos took to social media to participate in informal surveys to show their preference for candidates in the next presidential elections.
The surveys were conducted a few days after supporters of the two prominent women leaders made calls for them to run for president next year.
Kami.com.ph created a poll on Facebook with a caption: “Halimbawang tumakbo ang dalawang pinakapowerful na babae sa larangan ng politika na sina Mayor Sara ng Davao at VP Leni, sinong Presidente mo? (For example the two most powerful women in politics such as Mayor Sara and VP Leni run, who is your president?)”
As of Saturday morning, Duterte was leading with 73 percent, or 85,400 votes, over Robredo, who garnered 27 percent of votes, or 31,000 votes.
Another survey, conducted by Southern Luzon State University (SLSU) Underground Files, showed Robredo, the possible presidential bet of the opposition Liberal Party, ahead with 1,900 votes. Duterte obtained only 189 votes.
These survey results have come out in light of the first signature campaign dubbed “I Am Ready For Leni” urging the vice president to run for 2022. It seeks to gather 50,000 signatures and so far has 35,200 to date.
This was posted on the petition website Change.org following the launch of “Run, Sara, Run for President for 2022” campaign by Duterte’s supporters.
Amid these informal survey results, neither Robredo nor the younger Duterte has confirmed any plan to run for president in 2022.
Robredo, who as her party’s highest elected official is the LP chairman, has never openly talked about her 2022 plans. Her spokesman Barry Gutierrez said she was still busy with her office’s pandemic response to think about the presidential election.
Mayor Sara, in a television interview, dismissed the push for her to run for president in 2022, and, instead, floated the idea of seeking the presidency in 2034.
An anti-Leni campaign is also garnering votes on the petition website. Dubbed as “I Am Ready For Leni to Retire from Politics,” the petition has so far collected 62,134 signatures as of posting time.
The Duterte family’s critics followed this up with the “I’m Ready for the Duterte Political Dynasty to Retire from Local and National Politics,” which seeks to get pass the 2,500 mark. So far, it has 2,021 signatures.