Akbayan Endorses Leni For President

Party-list group Akbayan yesterday endorsed Vice President Leni Robredo as its presidential bet in the 2022 elections.

Akbayan members tied pink ribbons along Tomas Morato Ave. in Quezon City to urge the Vice President to run for higher office.

She is expected to announce today her decision regarding the 2022 elections.

“Among the list of presidential contenders, VP Leni is the clear democratic alternative,” said Akbayan first nominee Perci Cendaña, a former commissioner of the National Youth Commission.

“Filipino voters no longer have to settle for ‘pwede na’ candidates among the crop of former tyrant enablers, or watch helplessly as they fall prey to the schemes of truly evil leaders such as the Dutertes and Marcoses of this world,” he added.

Akbayan, which seeks to return to Congress after its loss in 2019, said Robredo is the best candidate who can truly heal the nation and lead it back to the path of democratic governance.

Cendaña noted the group’s long and productive history of working with Robredo and her husband, the late interior secretary Jesse Robredo.

“Akbayan lawmakers also worked with VP Leni on key reform measures during her time in Congress. We are confident that she will champion more far-reaching reforms as we win the fight against the pandemic and transition back to democratic governance,” he added.

Akbayan members led by reelectionist Sen. Risa Hontiveros and former Commission on Human Rights chair Etta Rosales led the group’s send-off for the filing of its certificate of candida-cy (COC) for the party-list elections.

Hontiveros was earlier endorsed by the Liberal Party (LP) chaired by Robredo as one of its guest senatorial candidates.

Rosales, meanwhile, is among the convenors of opposition coalition 1Sambayan that endorsed Robredo as its presidential bet.

Meanwhile, LP president and reelectionist Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Wednesday morning deferred the filing of his COC in deference to Robredo’s announcement.

Another LP guest candidate, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, will file his candidacy for senator on Thursday afternoon.

Diokno will take his oath as member of Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino party, a group founded last year by “progressive young Filipinos who want to reshape and reclaim political spaces in our country.”