Leni on VP race: Just a little more somersault

“The last man standing in the May vice presidential elections will be a woman.”

This was the declaration of Liberal Party candidate Leni Robredo during the second vice presidential debate organized by ABS-CBN on Sunday, where she faced three male rivals.

“I’ll continue my fight for our country, for our families and for the future of our children,” said Robredo, whose ratings have surged in recent surveys.

“My daughter told me: ‘Mama, just a little more somersault,’ yes, a little more ‘tumbling,’ victory is ours,” she said in Filipino.

Robredo said she attended a vice presidential forum on Saturday and it turned out that she was the only candidate present.

She said the moderator told the audience: “Remember and let this be cast in stone, ‘the last man standing is a woman’.”

It was not the first time for Robredo to refer to herself as the lone female bet.

During the first vice presidential debate organized by the Commission on Elections and sponsored by CNN, she concluded her statement by saying: “May the best woman win.”

She likened an ideal vice president to a good mother, who can be relied upon by her children and gives everything to them without thinking of herself.

“I’m not perfect but every day, I try very hard to be both a good mother and father to my children,” she said.

The lawmaker from Camarines Sur said her surge in the latest SWS Bilang Pilipino mobile survey inspired her to work harder.

She said she had been warned that black propaganda against her would start coming out now that she is leading the poll survey.

“I’m worried for my children who are not politicians. But they know what’s true and what’s not. It’s good that we’re not hiding anything,” she said.

Mar’s disadvantage

Robredo said the lengthy government experience of her runningmate, LP standardbearer Manuel Roxas II, could be a disadvantage.

But she’s optimistic about the chances of Roxas.

“I am new in the field and people do not have much to say about me. The lengthy service can be good and bad. Good because you are known. Bad because the world is not perfect,” she said, adding the LP team is not losing hope because Philippine elections have always been filled with surprises.