LIVE UPDATES: Leni Robredo’s plans for 2022 Philippine elections

For one, it means unification efforts will still continue for as long as possible, Robredo said. 

Pangilinan said the Liberal Party also passed a resolution declaring Robredo as their presidential candidate.

“That is already set and therefore the party will mobilize behind her,” he said.

Does it open the door for Robredo’s adoption as a standard bearer for another party, in case coalitions are made? Robredo said talks are still ongoing but when her slate will be announced it will show a diverse group of candidates. 

“We continue to be open to discussion pero ang pagkandidato tuloy na tuloy bilang pangulo (but my candidacy for president is definitely underway),” Rorbedo said. 

“Ang pangarap ko sa bayan, sana all may sapat na kita. Sana all may pagkain sa mesa. Sana all may bakuna. Sana all ligtas, ligtas sa sakit. Sana all may sariling tahanan,” he said. 

(My wish for the country: the all of us get ample pay. That all of have food on our tables. That all of us are vaccinated. That all of us are safe and healthy. That all of us have our own homes.)

“Tatakbo ako bilang pangalawang pangulo para sa bayan.”

(I will run as vice president, for the country.)

Pangilinan recalls Filipinos who have approached his office for help in coping with the pandemic, many of whom did not have anywhere else to turn to for help. 

“Kailangan natin ng bawa’t isa, kailangan natin ang isa’t isa. Kailangan nating humugot ng tapang at lakas sa isa’t isa,” he said. 

(We need every one of us, we need each other. We need to draw courage and strength from each other.)

Recalling Robredo’s speech yesterday, Pangilinan gets emotional, pausing in his speech as his eyes turn watery. “May pag-asang darating na (Hope is coming),” he said. 

“Alam ng marami sa inyo na ang plano ko ay tumakbo sa Senado. Hindi ko hinahangad na tumakbong pangalawang pangulo,” Pangilinan said. He says he was one of Robredo’s supporters who earlier asked her to run. 

(Many of you know that my plan was to run for Senate. I didn’t aim to run for vice president.)

Pangilinan said he could not turn down Robredo’s request to run with her, describing it as a call of duty. 

“Ako naman ngayon ang hiniling ni Ma’am Leni na sumabak dito…Sabi ko nga, eh wala aking kawala. No choice ika nga, pero sa totoo lang, tinatawag tayo ng tungkulin. Call of duty,” he said. 

(I’ve been called by Leni to get into this race…And I said, there was nothing to lose. No choice, as they say, but in truth we are being called to our duty.)

Robredo and Pangilinan take questions from the press after Pangilinan filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president earlier this morning. Robredo formally announces Pangilinan as her running mate. 

Ilonggos for Leni, a broad coalition of Ilonggos supporting Vice President Leni Robredo, held an early morning Mass in commemoration of her 2022 presidential bid at the Jaro Cathedral in Jaro, Iloilo City on Friday, October 8.

Many supporters were wearing pink, the color that Robredo and her team have adopted from those who have called for her to run for the chief executive post earlier this year.

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Philippine opposition leader and Vice President Leni Robredo is running for president in 2022, but not as standard-bearer of the once-ruling Liberal Party (LP) that she chairs.

Instead, Robredo is running as an independent candidate – a clear sign she has not given up on her mission to unite the opposition in 2022. 

She even shed LP’s yellow political color during her candidacy launch on Thursday, October 7.

Robredo faced the nation donning a pink face mask and a blue blouse with a huge pink ribbon clipped on her chest.

Will these moves be enough to convince the rest of the country that Robredo is the unifying opposition candidate she hopes to become? Watch this report by Rappler reporter Mara Cepeda. 

#LabanLeni2022 picks up early in the day before hitting 400,000 tweets at about 5:17 pm on the day Vice President Leni Robredo announced her presidential bid.

Read more.

Former senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV is foregoing a Senate comeback so he can focus on running Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential campaign in the high-stakes 2022 elections.

This was confirmed to Rappler by Aquino after Robredo launched her candidacy on Thursday, October 7. 

Asked by Rappler if he would be Robredo’s campaign manager for a second time, Aquino replied, “Yes.”

It was also the younger Aquino who ran Robredo’s vice presidential campaign in 2016, where she was the underdog who later bested five male incumbent senators. 

Read more here.