MANILA – Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV will run for president in 2022 national elections if Vice President Leni Robredo refuses.
According to Trillanes, he already met the members of the newly-formed coalition “1Sambayan” early this year in an interview.
“I qualified at the start of the interview. I said that the opposition is solidly behind and united behind the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo for President. So, any scenario of the vice president withdrawing her candidacy is the only condition that I’d entertain entering the presidential derby,” Trillanes told ABS-CBN News Channel on Monday.
The former senator still prefers Robredo to be the opposition’s standard-bearer next year believing that the latter has a greater chance of winning.
“In terms of qualification, definitely she’s highly qualified and we believed she’s the most winnable candidate in the opposition,” Trillanes said. “That’s why we are pushing her [and] we are assuring her we would be with her in this fight for the presidency in 2022.”
Meanwhile, he dismissed the surveys that President Rodrigo Duterte still enjoys a high approval rating from the public.
“I encourage them to do that. They have every right to do that. In fact, ideally, I would want them to be rejected in 2022 elections,” he said when asked about the possible tandem of Duterte and his daughter in next year’s poll.
The 1Sambayan, which is led by the country’s former high-ranking officials, is looking to endorse a candidate who has a clean track record, an upright stand on key issues, and platforms that address current problems.
Aside from Trillanes and Robredo, the coalition led by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is eyeing Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, senators Grace Poe, and Nancy Binay as presidential bets./PN
