Former vice president and Angat Buhay chairperson Leni Robredo has a special way of commemorating what would have been an otherwise heartbreaking loss for some:. She launched a coffee table book to look back at the 2022 presidential campaign exactly one year after the May 9 elections and claimed that she would “go through it all over again.”
Former vice president Leni Robredo signs copies of her coffee table book at the Museo ng Pag-asa in Quezon City. (Photo from Angat Buhay NGO)
On Tuesday, May 9, the former official launched the 388-page coffee table book, entitled “Tayo Ang Liwanag", to reminisce about her volunteer-driven campaign for the presidency.
Despite not winning the presidential elections, Robredo had previously said she did not regret a thing, which she reiterated during the launch.
“If I have to go through it all over again, I will,” she said during the launch that was livestreamed on Atty. Leni Robredo’s and Angat Buhay’s official Facebook pages.
Robredo noted she was completely aware of how her volunteers and supporters have been reminiscing about the campaign and the one-year anniversary of her record-breaking miting de avance last May 7, 2022.
“Nung tiningnan ko marami iyong nagrereminisce. Pero pambihira di ba? Tayo ‘yung hindi natin nakamtan yung mithiin natin pero (When I looked back, a lot are reminiscing. It’s incredible, right? We did not reach our goals but) we still look back on everything that happened with a grateful heart,” she added.
Robredo expressed gratitude that a lot have been achieved since she announced her candidacy in October 2021.
“I never thought ma-achieve natin (I never thought we will achieve it),” she said, referring to her survey numbers and the fact that her volunteers—many of whom were first-timers—“gave your all.”
The book, Robredo described, was a sort of “diary of everything that has happened.”
Weighing about three kilos, it comes in hardbound and softbound versions filled to the brim with photos and “iconic moments, behind-the-scene photos, and inside stories” of the campaign.
The former vice president held a book-signing event during the launch at the Museo ng Pag-asa in Quezon City, the headquarters of Robredo’s Angat Buhay NGO and the repository of the gifts she received during her presidential campaign.
Aside from the book launch, there would also be a series of mini concerts called “Tayo Ang Liwanag Mini Concert” from today, May 9, until Saturday, May 13, as part of the week-long celebration of the People’s Campaign.
Robredo was set to attend the May 9 mini concert with artists Nica del Rosario, Gab Pangilinan, The Company, and Rivermaya.
Former senators Francis Pangilinan, Robredo’s running-mate, and Bam Aquino, her campaign manager, were also expected to appear as guests for the first day of the mini concert.