Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo is considering the results of the recent commissioned SWS polls that placed her second in the presidential preference survey a “pleasant surprise” that will encourage them to work harder to meet their targets for the 2022 elections.

Robredo, a leader of the opposition, said that her camp must be “very hopeful” because they didn’t expect that the jump in her numbers would come this early.

The survey was commissioned by Stratbase ADR Institute, chaired by former Foreign Affairs secretary and 1Sambayan lead convenor Albert del Rosario.

“So noong nakita natin iyong latest surveys, ngayon na pangalawa na ako, napakagandang balita. Napakagandang balita kasi hindi natin inaasahan na this early, this early magna-number two na ako (So, when we see the latest surveys, now that I’m second, it’s a very good news. It’s a very good news because we don’t expect that this early, I will be number two),” Robredo said in a media interview in Cabanatuan City.

Her camp originally thought it will be either in January or February that she can overtake previous second runner-up Manila Mayor Isko Moreno in the surveys.

“Pero the mere fact na pangalawa na ako, siyempre very well taken ng aming campaign team (that I’m second, of course that’s very well taken by our campaign team),” she added.

The recent SWS survey from October 20 to 23, showed Robredo jumping from 8 percent or 6th place to the second place with 18 percent.

Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. still topped the surveys with a commanding 47 percent while Isko Moreno was third at 13 percent, followed by Senator Manny Pacquiao with 9 percent, and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Ronald Dela Rosa with 5 percent. Dela Rosa has quit the race.

The Vice President said they were well-aware of their standing when she decided at the last-minute to run for president.

READ: Marcos, Sotto top presidential, vice presidential SWS survey

Robredo likened it to her standing in the vice presidential surveys in 2015 when she started at 1 percent but eventually won against her closest rival, Marcos.

“Parang noong 2016 na nag-umpisa tayo sa bottom, na mayroon tayong mga targets na paunti-unti na tumataas iyong ating numbers (It was like in 2016 when we started at the bottom, we have targets that slowly our numbers are going up),” she said.

The aspiring president is unfazed by the large margin between her and Marcos, adding that her rival had six years to prepare for this run.

“Tayo, nag-decide tayo ng 11th hour pero the mere fact na mayroon lang tayong one month since the decision na gumalaw, tapos ganito na iyong tinaas, nagpapakita na kailangang maging very hopeful kasi hindi nga inaasahan iyong pagtaas (We decided at the 11th hour but the mere fact that we have only one month to mobilize, then this is how it increased, it shows that we need to be very hopeful because we don’t expect the rise),” Robredo stressed.

READ: ‘Buong-buo ang loob ko’: Robredo announces bid for presidency

She said it is too early in the game to call Marcos a frontrunner because the rankings between now and the campaign period in February 2022 are “very fluid.”

“Pero gaya ng mga nakaraang eleksyon, sobrang aga pa nito (But the same with the past elections, this is still too early),” Robredo added.