Robredo open to running for senatorial post in 2016 polls

Camarines Sur Congresswoman Leni Robredo (Robredo’s Facebook Account)

LEGAZPI CITY — The widow of former Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, neophyte lawmaker Leni Gerona-Robredo of Camarines Sur (3rd District), is open to the possibility of running for senatorial post under the Liberal Party in the May 2016 elections.

Robredo’s decision to run for a higher post, however, depends on her possible successor as representative of her congressional district in Camarines Sur.

That is, she said, the position should be handled diligently so that the constituents and the position she would be vacating will be in good hands and the basic services and development she has started will be pursued.

“I’m open for senatorial post but I want to make sure that the district office I am vacating in case I would decide to run for a higher position will be in good hands so the people’s needs will not be neglected,” Robredo said.

She said the possible candidate for congressional race in the 3rd district of Camarines Sur in case she decided to run for the senatorial post is former vice mayor and now councilor Gabriel “Gabby” Bordado of Naga City who has shown interest to run in the post she would be giving up.

Robredo decided to run for Congress due to the sudden public clamor that transpired after her husband died in a plane crash in 2012 in the island-province of Masbate.

It is said that Robredo owes her victory to her husband’s popularity and the then factionalism in the ruling political dynasty.

When asked who would be her presidential bet in 2016 in the wake of the President’s interest in considering Senator Grace Poe as administration’s possible presidential contender owing to her growing popularity, Robredo said choosing the presidential contender should not be based on popularity.

“The presidency should not be based on popularity. The suited president should be ‘matino at mahusay’ (prudent and clever),” she said.

Poe, currently the front runner in the surveys, ran and won as senator in 2013 under the ticket of President Benigno Aquino’s political party but has remained independent.

She is now being considered as one of the presidential contenders after overtaking Vice President Jejomar Binay and Mar Roxas in the presidential surveys.

Robredo, chairman of the Regional Advisory Council of the Philippine National Police, came to Camp Gen.

Simeon Ola here on Thursday where she presided over the monthly meeting.

The lady lawmaker from Camarines Sur, who has served her constituents diligently, won by a landslide against Nelly Villafuerte, wife of former Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, in the 3rd District of Camarines Sur.

The Villafuertes, with Luis Sr. at the helm, have ruled the province for about 35 years now.

Robredo won by a big margin, the biggest in the province’s history.

She got 123,843 votes, or 76.93 percent of the total votes cast while Villafuerte received only 35,160 votes.

She managed that feat without dispensing favors, a practice that the Villafuertes are known for during elections.

After her husband’s death in a plane accident, Robredo took over as chair of the Liberal Party in Camarines Sur.

Her stated purpose is to call for a convention to select a candidate for congressman.

She was compelled to run when the party in the province threatened to disintegrate because no candidate was acceptable to the members.

Besides, the members believed that only she had the chance of toppling a member of the influential Villafuerte dynasty.

It was a double whammy for the Villafuerte husband and wife.

The patriarch, known in the province as LRV, ran for governor but he lost to his own grandson, Miguel.

He had occupied the post for 18 years before he ran and won as congressman.