Photo from The Manila Times
By Junex Doronio
AFTER FORMER PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo allegedly tried to persuade former Vice President Leni Robredo to run for governor in Camarines Sur, now comes Senator Risa Hontiveros urging the defeated opposition presidential candidate in 2022 to venture into the senatorial race in 2025.
“I’ve been encouraging and supporting former VP Leni to run for the Senate in 2025,” Hontiveros revealed on Tuesday, October 17.
Political analyst Ronald Llamas earlier said the “baton of the opposition” had been passed on from Robredo to Hontiveros.
Hontiveros expressed a firm belief that Robredo has enough clout to win a Senate seat in 2025.
Apparently, still engulfed in trauma Robredo experienced a bruising defeat to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in the 2022 elections.
Robredo only placed a distant second in the presidential race, garnering 15 million votes compared to the PBBM’s 31.6 million.
Hontiveros, however, conceded that should Robredo have other plans in 2025, she will “still be supporting and encouraging” the former vice president to run for senator in 2028.
“Any public announcements should be made by her. But for sure, she remains politically active through Angat Buhay,” Hontiveros said, referring to the former vice president’s volunteer organization.
Last September, a photo showing FPGMA with Robredo went viral on social media, fueling speculations of political realignment.
But Macapagal-Arroyo, widely believed to be the political mentor of Vice President Sara Duterte, said it was only a “social dinner” and a night chat about Bicol politics.
“I recently had a social dinner with former Vice President Leni Robredo and mutual friends from Bicol. We chatted about Bicol politics,” she said.
(ai/mnm)
