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Leni Robredo was a neophyte congresswoman in 2016 when she got here from behind to narrowly beat Ferdinand Marcos Junior for Philippines vice chairman. She hopes to repeat the feat of their Could 9 rematch for president.
The one lady in a discipline of 10 candidates, Robredo is the final impediment to the Marcos household regaining the presidency they misplaced in 1986 following a well-liked rebellion.
However this time, the previous lawyer and economist faces a a lot greater hole with Marcos Jr, the late dictator’s solely son, who voter surveys present is heading in the direction of a landslide victory.
Relentless assaults from President Rodrigo Duterte, who as soon as referred to as her a “scatterbrain”, and a vicious social media misinformation marketing campaign waged by pro-Marcos teams have damage the soft-spoken Robredo’s reputation.
Her pledge to “defeat the archaic and rotten fashion of politics” within the feudal and corrupt democracy has resonated with progressive voters fed up with Duterte’s authoritarian fashion.
Many additionally worry a repeat of the Marcos dictatorship, when billions of {dollars} have been plundered from state coffers and widespread human rights abuses have been dedicated.
“I’m typically informed I’m weak as a result of I am a girl, however I’ve by no means shirked from a problem,” Robredo, 57, informed a discussion board in February.
“I’m providing a model of management that’s reliable, competent, industrious and reliable. You’ll not be fooled, you’ll not be robbed, you’ll by no means be left behind,” she stated.
“In 2022, the final man standing will nonetheless be a girl.”
– ‘President of all colors’ –
Volunteers carrying Robredo’s pink marketing campaign color have gone door to door throughout the huge archipelago nation in an against-the-odds effort to win over voters.
It has sparked comparisons with the people-driven motion for former president and democracy chief Corazon Aquino within the 1986 snap election that led to the ousting of Ferdinand Marcos Senior.
Like Aquino, whose husband was shot lifeless by state forces in 1983, Robredo was reluctantly thrust into politics after the dying of her husband.
Jesse Robredo, a revered cupboard member in former president Benigno Aquino’s administration, died in a aircraft crash in 2012.
Initially a lawyer for poor farmers and battered girls, Robredo served a single time period within the Home of Representatives, the place she pushed for legal guidelines selling transparency and accountability.
After successful the vice presidency in 2016 — a end result Marcos Jr fought for 5 years to overturn — Robredo remodeled her small-budget, largely ceremonial workplace into one which fed the needy, empowered girls and helped storm victims.
However she earned the ire of Duterte by criticising his lethal drug battle and opposing his plan to carry again the dying penalty.
She additionally challenged his resolution to permit the embalmed physique of Marcos Sr to be buried on the nationwide heroes’ cemetery.
Within the Philippines, the vice chairman and president are elected individually.
After months of strain from supporters and opposition teams to affix the presidential race, she introduced a run for the highest job on October 7 — two days after Marcos Jr.
“The corruption, the incompetence, the dearth of compassion should be changed by competence and integrity in management,” Robredo stated on the time.
Just like the Aquino-Marcos contest greater than three many years in the past, Robredo is the underdog within the battle in opposition to Marcos Jr.
Some analysts say Robredo, who has three daughters, lacks the feisty character Filipino voters search for in a feminine chief. She has additionally been criticised for making her resolution to run too late.
Marcos Jr has benefited from an alliance with vice presidential candidate and first daughter Sara Duterte and a years-long social media effort to revamp the household model.
However a bump within the polls and big turnouts at Robredo’s rallies have fuelled hope amongst her fervent followers that her marketing campaign is gaining traction.
Vowing to be a “president of all colors”, Robredo lately implored her supporters to “embrace everybody” as they tried to woo voters.
“The way forward for the nation rests on us all,” she stated.
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