Vice President Leni Robredo admitted that lack of resources makes it difficult for her to decide whether or not she will run for the presidential polls next year.
In an interview over GMA News program “The Mangahas Interviews,” Robredo said being the standard-bearer of the party is not going to be easy.
“Sabi ng iba, ‘noong tumakbo ka nga as VP, wala ka ding resources.’ Iba po iyong pag-VP, kasi iyong VP, mayroon tayong presidente na magdadala sa atin (Others are saying ‘when you run for VP, you don’t have resources, too.’ Running as VP is different. There’s a president who will shoulder you),” she said Wednesday, March 3.
“Kung mag-run ako ng presidente, ako iyong magdadala, ako iyong magdadala ng organisasyon. Kailangan ng resources iyon (If I will run as president, I will be the one to shoulder, I will shoulder the organization. That needs resources),” Robredo noted.
Robredo said the Liberal Party, under which she run as vice president along with former Senator Mar Roxas as the standard-bearer, had already been decimated.
“Ngayon wala na iyon. Ibang iba iyong circumstances ngayon (That’s all gone now. The circumstances are very different now,” she said.
Although she doesn’t have concrete plans yet, Robredo knows that people expect her to run because she is the vice president. She also said there will be a lot of expectations from the next president.
“Iyong 2022 is a very important elections. Marami tayong democratic institutions na kailangang i-strengthen, maraming mga values na kailangan nating balikan...iyong character ng Pilipinas ay kailangang ayusin ulit (The 2022 elections is very important. We have many democratic institutions that we need to strengthen, many values that we have to go back to...we need to fix the character of the Philippines),” she said.
There is a need to unify the Filipinos, but she warned that this is not dependent on one’s political ambition. For Robredo, Filipinos should choose a candidate who has the capacity to do these things: unify the people, address the national debt, and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Maraming problemang sasaluhin. Hindi siya biro (There are a lot of problems to be addressed. It is not easy),” she said.
The vice president earlier stressed that she is not closing her doors on the possibility of running for the country’s top post. Her doors are open, she said, both for national and local office.
However, Robredo added that she cannot get herself to think about next year because she still has a lot of things to do as a vice president.
The lady official pointed out that her office is still in the “thick” of work as they transition to the rehabilitation phase of their COVID-19 pandemic efforts, as well as those affected by last year’s typhoons.
“It’s always a possibility—but it will be difficult for me to decide at this point,” she said, adding instead that she relies on her volunteers for now.