To air support to the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo, students, faculty, alumni, and employees of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and its affiliated universities launched "Thomasians for Leni."

"Tayo ay mga estudyante, guro, alumni, empleyado ng UST Espana, Legazpi, at Angelicum na nananawagan sa isang maayos na gobyerno at isang etikal na pamumuno sa isang liderato at naniniwala tayo si Leni Robredo ang karapat-dapat na ihalal na Pangulo ng Pilipinas sa darating na 2022 elections (We are students, faculty, alumni, and employees of UST Espana, Legazpi, and Angelicum who call for good governance and ethical leadership and we believe that Leni Robredo is the right leader to be elected as the President in the upcoming 2022 elections)," Gabriel Kintanar, Thomasians for Leni convernor, said during the launch of Thomasians for Leni.

"Ang layunin natin ay makilala ng taumbayan si Leni Robredo kung paano natin sya nakikilala -- isang babaeng may husay, tibay, at puso sa serbisyo (Our goal is for the people to know Leni Robredo the way we know her -- a woman with skill, endurance, and a heart for public service)," Kintanar added.

The group aims to recruit more Thomasian Robredo supporters, organize communities into action, engage in discourse within and outside their Thomasian communities, and combat the spread of disinformation.

"I think the role of every person, every institution should be the same. Speak out your convictions. If you believe that VP Leni should be the next leader, then you should simply just go out and support her and not consider the potential consequences and do it just because it's the right thing to do in all of history, I think every great evil that has been done on humanity could have been avoided if the one person just simply said no, it's not the right thing to do," UST Law Professor Jun Santamaria said.

"I call on every professor who is supportive of VP Leni, every student who thinks that VP Leni should be the next President, to stand up, speak, and declare, come out in the open. Sabi nga diba tumindig ka, makikita mo may nakatindig sa tabi mo (Stand up and you'll see someone is also standing up next to you). I hope everybody does that," he added.

To date, Thomasians for Leni has over 1,500 Thomasian volunteers.

Earlier, students and alumni from the Far Eastern University launched "Tamaraws for Leni" to express their support for the presidential bid of Robredo.