Leni Robredo

A year after elections, Robredo reminisces about presidential bid with a ‘grateful heart’

Bonz Magsambol

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A year after elections, Robredo reminisces about presidential bid with a ‘grateful heart’

Angat Buhay - Media

'Thank you for joining us in channeling this hope,' former vice president Leni Robredo tells supporters at a book launch to mark the first anniversary of her people's campaign

MANILA, Philippines – A year after losing her presidential bid, former vice president Leni Robredo on Tuesday, May 9, launched a coffee-table book which documents her volunteer-driven campaign.

The 390-page book Tayo ang Liwanag chronicles Robredo’s journey from pondering on a presidential run, joining the race, the efforts of the “Pink movement,” and falling short of the ultimate goal.

Maraming nagte-text na, ‘Trending ka sa Twitter, trending ka sa Twitter.’ Bakit na naman kaya? Ano kaya ang nangyari? Noong tiningnan ko, maraming nagre-reminisce,” Robredo said, as she addressed her supporters during the book launch.

Hindi natin nakamtan ‘yung mithiin natin pero we still look back on everything that happened with a grateful heart,” she added.

(Many texted me saying that I was trending on Twitter. I asked, why again? What happened? When I checked, many were reminiscing. We weren’t able to get what wanted but we still look back on everything that happened with a grateful heart.)

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Robredo launched her book at the Museo ng Pag-asa in Quezon City, the headquarters of her Angat Buhay NGO and the repository of the gifts she received during her presidential campaign.

A year after elections, Robredo reminisces about presidential bid with a ‘grateful heart’

She again thanked her supporters for not losing hope even after her failed presidential bid, and channeling this optimism to her new venture.

“I really want to thank everyone, not just for joining us in the fight that we went through but for not losing hope even after the grief that you felt when we lost. Thank you for joining us in channeling this hope,” Robredo said in a mix of English and Filipino.

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Robredo got around 15.4 million votes in her 2022 presidential run and finished a distant second to the late dictator’s son and namesake, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who got around 31 million votes.

“If I have to go through it all over again, I will. Because I think that we achieved a lot on the day I announced my candidacy that I never thought we would be able to achieve,” Robredo said, referring to the overwhelming spirit of volunteerism that was sparked during her people’s campaign in 2022.

Robredo earlier opened up about her thoughts after the 2022 elections in the April 30 episode of The Leni Robredo Podcast, particularly on setting up the Angat Buhay NGO.

Napakaimportante na i-setup namin ‘yung Angat Buhay as an NGO. Mahirap siyang gawin dahil marami nagbago. Pero ‘yung mga nawala kasi sa amin katulad ‘yung government office na mag-ha-house sa Angat Buhay, ang kapalit noon is a huge army of volunteers. So ‘yun siguro ‘yung blessing na ‘yun,” she said.

(It was important that we set up Angat Buhay as an NGO. It was hard to achieve since there were a lot of changes. But what we lost such as the government office used to house Angat Buhay was replaced by a huge army of volunteers. So that’s a blessing.) 

Robredo added that since she left office, she had “a lot more vigor” as she had more “flexibility” to do things on a personal level such as traveling with her family. – With reports from Russell Ku/Rappler.com

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Bonz Magsambol

Bonz Magsambol covers the Philippine Senate for Rappler.