Vice President Leni Robredo has always remained mum about any moves she’s doing in the run-up to the 2022 polls, but she revealed on Tuesday, August 10, that she talked with Senator Manny Pacquiao twice already to talk about how they feel about the upcoming elections as well as their stand on several issues.
Robredo clarified that they have not talked about supporting a single candidate for next year’s polls, only that they will meet again after his bout with Errol Spence on August 21.
The last time they met was a day before the boxer-senator left for the United States.
“One of the things that we agreed on is pagdating ni Senator Manny Pacquiao (when Senator Manny Pacquiao arrives), we will try to sit together and discuss,” Robredo said in a CNN Philippines interview.
“Pinag-uusapan pa lang namin ‘yung mga pakiramdam namin (What we are talking about is how we feel) about the elections, ano ba iyong stand namin (what is our stand) about this? Mga ganun pa naman iyong tinatanong ko. Wala pa naman pinag-uusapan kung sino susuportahan (Those are what I’m asking. We are not talking about yet who we will support),” she added.
Her focus is to find out if these people are “willing to sit down and talk further.”
READ: Robredo, Lacson discuss ‘broadest possible unity’ for 2022 polls
The vice president said she’s the one who initiated the discussions with everyone, and that “I’ve exerted every effort to reach out to most everyone already.”
However, she does not want to reveal who she has talked to because she doesn’t know “if they are comfortable” letting people know that they’ve talked with her.
“All the others gusto ko i-respeto ‘yung (I want to respect their) privacy,” the lady official added.
Her exploratory talks with other possible 2022 bets from other political parties became public knowledge after Senators Richard Gordon and Panfilo Lacson revealed that they recently met with her.
Although she rejected the unification proposal of Lacson because she does not believe that candidates should withdraw their Certificate of Candidacy (COC) based on survey numbers, the vice president believes the negotiations are “a continuing thing until we can find a common ground.”
Despite not yet announcing her plans to run as president, these moves indicate that Robredo is actively pursuing her plan to unify the opposition behind one candidate. This, she said earlier, is the only way to beat the administration’s candidates next year.
READ: ‘If I run, I won't back out’; Robredo firm on uniting opposition forces
Robredo hinted in the past that she might decide at the last minute to file her COC since the last day of filing is on October 8. However, if she can already decide by September, then she will make the announcement herself, she stressed.