ADMINISTRATION standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II said Friday he is confident his running mate, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, will win the vice presidential race.
He made the statement despite Robredo’s admission that she was “running scared” in her head-to-head battle with her rivals whom she described as “more popular” than her.
Leni Robredo is a very strong candidate. I strongly believe that she’s going to win this thing, Roxas said.
Robredo, whom the Liberal Party drafted after failing to woo Senator Grace Poe to be Roxas’ running mate, is up against Senators Francis Escudero, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV.
“I am always bothered. I am running scared in this campaign,” Robredo said in Dagupan City Thursday.
“My rivals are all senators, I’m the only local representative. I need to exert extra effort to be known.”
But Roxas disagreed.
“I see Leni and the crowds take her instantly and seriously,” he said.
“She’s sincere, she’s fresh and she’s grounded. She speaks from experience and above all, she’s not a politician. I think a big point comes from that.”
Roxas said that, with Robredo with her, the gains of the straight path would “continue to trickle down to the poor.” John Paolo Bencito
Robredo ran for Camarines Sur’s third congressional seat and won in 2013, beating former governor Luis Villafuerte, a veteran politician and her husband’s relative.
“Our political campaigns were like this current race, very difficult. We were always the underdogs, but that is why we persevere,” Robredo said.