‘Why attack VP camp?’
The spokesman for Vice President Leni Robredo is wondering why many of her rival presidential candidates have been attacking her despite her low ranking in pre-election surveys.
Lawyer Barry Gutierrez yesterday said Robredo is the target of attack by many of her rivals even before the campaign period starts.
“Since she has declared her candidacy for president, people say she is in the tailend of the survey. She is not strong. So why attack her? I just noticed that almost all of her rivals are attacking her. She is always the target of attacks, ” Gutierrez said in Filipino during Robredo’s weekly radio program.
Robredo’s camp also asked her supporters for patience while they are still completing the senatorial slate and in the process of selecting the 12th candidate.
“Let’s just wait. We will still announce one candidate. Don’t talk as if it’s over,” Gutierrez said.
Former Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares said former senator Antonio Trillanes IV objected to his inclusion in Robredo’s senatorial slate over his links to the armed communist insurgency and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.
Meanwhile, a candidate said he gave way for the vice presidential candidacy of Sen. Francis Pangilinan, declaring that the senator “is the real opposition bet and will be good as Robredo’s running mate.”
Lawyer Alex Lacson, a nominee of the Kapatiran Party for vice president, said he withdrew from the race in favor of Pangilinan to boost Robredo’s chances of winning.
He said he accepted his own party nomination after noticing that there was no real opposition bet until Pangilinan declared his candidacy for vice president.
“Pangilinan is a true opposition and I don’t want to divide the votes for LeniKiko team-up,” Lacson, an adopted candidate for senator of the team, said.
“This is not an easy decision for me or the Kapatiran. But at this critical point in our history, we have to unite for the common good. I want the opposition to win and chart a new direction for our country, which our people so need and deserve,” he said.