Vice President Leni Robredo may have suffered a lopsided defeat to now President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., but true to her word that she doesn’t want to cause further divisiveness, as her camp took it with grace.
Her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez expressed his gratitude to those who voted for Robredo and supported her presidential bid.
“15,035,773. Maraming, maraming salamat at mabuhay (Thank you very much and long live),” he said in a Twitter post hours later after Congress officially proclaimed the winning presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
The Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), proclaimed Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte president-elect and vice president-elect, respectively, on Wednesday night.
It only took two days for the House of Representatives and the Senate to complete the canvassing of votes for the candidates in the 2022 race.
The NBOC’s final and official count showed Marcos Jr. won with 31.63 votes over Robredo, who got 15.04 million votes, whereas Duterte won 32.21 million votes or 61.53 percent of the votes.
READ: Marcos, Duterte proclaimed victors as historic 2022 poll season comes to an end
Gutierrez took in stride the 15 million people who voted for Robredo in the recently concluded May 9 elections.
“Feeling ko kapamilya ko na kayong lahat (My feeling is you’re all a family to me),” he said in a post with a red heart.
The Vice President is set to come home with her daughters after attending her youngest daughter Jillian’s college graduation at New York University. She also spent a much-needed vacation with her family for over a week in the US.
In a midnight-aired message to supporters after the unofficial quick count on May 9 showed Marcos an early big lead, the Vice President urged for calmness and acceptance.
“Alam kong hindi madaling tanggapin sa inyo ang mga numerong lumalabas sa quick count. Gayumpaman, sinasabi ko sa inyo: Alam kong mahal natin ang bansa, pero hindi puwedeng maging ugat pa ng pagkakawatak-watak ang pagmamahal na ito (I know it is not easy for you to accept the numbers coming out of the quick count. Despite it, I am telling you all: I know we love our country, but this love cannot be a cause of division),” she had said.
“Palinaw na nang palinaw ang tinig ng taumbayan. Sa ngalan ng Pilipinas na alam kong mahal na mahal rin ninyo: Kailangan nating pakinggan ang tinig na ito, dahil sa huli, iisa lang ang bayang pinagsasaluhan natin (The voice of the people is getting clearer. In the name of the Philippines I know you all love: we need to listen to this voice because in the end, we all want the same thing),” Robredo added.