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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Best opponent for VP Duterte? Nobody but Robredo, says Erice

Best opponent for VP Duterte? Nobody but Robredo, says Erice

Published Feb 19, 2026 05:14 pm

At A Glance

  • Liberal Party (LP) stalwart Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar "Egay" Erice candidly said on Thursday, Feb. 19 that the best opponent who can be fielded against Vice President Sara Duterte in the 2028 Palace race was Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo.
Vice President Sara Duterte (left), Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo (Facebook)
Vice President Sara Duterte (left), Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo (Facebook)


Liberal Party (LP) stalwart Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar "Egay" Erice candidly said on Thursday, Feb. 19 that the best opponent who can be fielded against Vice President Sara Duterte in the 2028 Palace race was Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo.
Erice--talking to reporters on the sidelines of the public consultation on the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Law at the University of the Philippines-Cebu (UP-Cebu)--said there was clamor from within his group to come up with a possible presidential bet.
This, after Duterte grabbed headlines Wednesday, Feb. 18 by making a rather early declaration of her plan to run for president in the 2028 national elections.
“Sa ngayon wala pa po [kaming presidential candidate]. Ang sinasabi ng mga kasama namin mag-organize kami (As of now we don't have a presidential candidate. Our groupmates want us to organize), and hopefully by the end of the year, we can come up with our candidate,” Erice said.
“Pero sa aking pananaw (But in my view)," the House senior deputy minority added, "Isa lang ang pwedeng panlaban kay VP Sara, walang iba yan kundi si dating VP Leni (There's only one viable opponent against VP Sara, and that's nobody else but the former VP Leni)."
Robredo is Duterte’s predecessor at the Office of the Vice President (OVP). In 2022, Rodredo ran for the Palace seat and ended up second to eventual winner President Marcos.
Three years later, the "Kakampink" leader was elected mayor of Naga City.
This early, Erice addressed the question on whether or not Rodredo would join forces with the Marcos before taking on the very popular Duterte.
"Walang issue ng korapsyon kay VP Leni kaya lang magkakaroon ng dalawang school of thoughts dyan (There is no corruption issue against VP Leni, but there will be two schools of though on that), whether we will coalesce with the administration or we will fight alone," he noted.
"Para sa akin (For me), we should fight alone,” the veteran solon said.
For nearly a year now, the Marcos administration has been grappling with the flood control projects corruption scandal. Erice has described this as the biggest corruption issue to ever hit the country.
Although President Marcos and Vice President Duterte were running mates during the May 2022 elections, they had a very public falling out afterward, which caused the latter to become an administration critic.
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