BACOLOD, Philippines – A year since the hearts of her 15 million supporters were broken over the victory of the late dictator’s son in the May 2022 presidential election, former vice president Leni Robredo told supporters here to look at the bright side of things – and the long game.

Robredo was the keynote speaker on Tuesday, May 23, at the first general assembly of the Paghimud-os Negros Inc.

Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael “Lito” Coscolluela chairs the civil society organization composed largely of Robredo’s campaign volunteers who are willing to reach out to other sectors.

The assembly was followed by the local book launch of Robredo’s Tayo Ang Liwanag coffee table book.

“Ang numbers ko sa surveys noon, sobrang baba. (My survey numbers then were really low.) But we still finished second. We finished at 28%. We had 15 million votes all over the Philippines. That was a great achievement for all of us,” Robredo said.

“This is the direction I want to stress,” she said. “Hindi natapos ang laban sa election.” (The fight didn’t end with the elections.)

A few days after the May 9, 2022, elections, Robredo said she would not allow the volunteer-led movement she inspired to just fade away.

While she has a vehicle, the Angat Buhay nongovernmental organization, Robredo has not indicated an interest in joining the 2025 Senate or local races.

The long game

Robredo hinted at the long game, citing lessons in Latin America and southeast Asian neighbor, Thailand.

“Where did our hope come from? It was from knowing that we are united in the kind of governance we want,” Robredo said in a mix of Tagalog and English.

“We may get impatient and angry when we see officials who won’t take us there,” she acknowledged. “The message is: We do not pin our hopes for change on them, and we have a lot of examples.”

In Latin America, she pointed out, many changes are happening “not because of the government or the opposition, but because of strong civil society.”

In the case of Brazil, she said Luis Inacio Lula da Silva beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to retake the country’s highest post because civil society groups “were able to thwart disinformation.”

Thailand, a country ruled by generals for a decade, also saw the youthful Move Forward and the populist Pheu Thai of Thaksin Shinawatra rout the military-backed parties.

In Thailand, the fractious opposition will need to unite if they want to overturn legal mechanisms set in place by the military precisely to extend its rule.

Local struggles

But even as Robredo talked of victories following a series of political heartbreaks, she also called on supporters to challenge grassroots races, including the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in October.

Every little opening and little win adds up, she had said before.

That message is particularly interesting in Bacolod City, where the incumbent Mayor Albee Benitez hustled to eke out a small 10,000-vote victory for candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Robredo’s rival.

Many of Robredo’s most vociferous supporters in this city, the center of protests against the dictatorship, backed Benitez’s mayoral run. 

Now their mayor is president of the Kilusan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), a pro-Marcos socio-civic movement seeking national political party status.

The KNP is seen as a vehicle for pro-Marcos politicians planning to run in the 2025 senatorial race, a far cry from the Paghumud-os’ goal of regenerative development and serving as a “social conscience.”

The stakes for the KNP aren’t just about personal political ambitions.

The President needs to boost his control of the Senate as corruption allegations dog agriculture services, which come under his portfolio. 

There are ongoing hearings to probe alleged onion smuggling and abuse of sugar importation powers. 

There have also been reports of internal squabbles among major allies of Marcos. His orders to go after police officials linked to narcotics, many of whom carried out former president Duterte’s bloody “drug war,” has caused rumblings in the once solid Uniteam coalition. – Rappler.com