MANILA, Philippines – She may be ranked 10th among vice presidential candidates in pre-election surveys but members of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) say Camarines Sur Representative Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo’s numbers will pick up soon enough.

Robredo formally announced her bid for the second-highest elective post on Monday, October 5, at the Kalayaan Hall in Club Filipino.

With her “yes” secured, Robredo’s supporters and the ruling party move on to another problem: her low survey numbers.

The fourth politician to throw her hat into the race, Robredo is also the the survey laggard among those who have announced their bid for vice president.

Leading the pack, based on the latest Pulse Asia survey, is Senator Francis Escudero with 23 percentage points followed by Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. with 13 percentage points, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 9 percentage points, and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV with 4 percentage points.

But Budget Secretary Florencio Abad doesn’t seem worried at all.

“Before Sec Roxas declared, before he was endorsed by President Aquino, you were also asking me that question and I was telling you also: wait until he makes himself available and wait until the President endorses him,” said Abad, when asked about Robredo’s survey numbers.

Abad, who ran the LP’s 2010 campaign, said the same will be “the case for Leni [Robredo].”

At the time of his endorsement late July, Roxas was a consistent cellar-dweller in early presidential preference polls. His numbers have since picked up after President Benigno Aquino III’s endorsement. The latest surveys now put Roxas at a more comfortable distance from Senator Grace Poe and vice President Jejomar Binay.

Former Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, meanwhile, said that based on the latest senatorial preference surveys, Robredo has registered a 70% awareness.

“We believe it’s just a matter of informing the people that she’s running and converting that into votes,” he added.

LP members have long touted the power of Aquino’s endorsement in propping up the candidacies of his 2016 bets. The administration ticket is running a campaign hinged on the promise of continuity and certainty of “Daang Matuwid,” its catchphrase for its anti-corruption, good governance, and transparency platform.

The latest survey shows that Aquino is the country’s most trusted and appreciated government official. Should that trend continue, Aquino may just be the first president in recent history to have ended his term with mostly good approval ratings. – Rappler.com