By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday neither confirmed nor denied that she would aim for the highest position in the land in 2022.
In her visit to the city and province of Iloilo, Robredo brushed aside speculations on her political future with the filing of candidacy for the 2022 national elections just seven months away.
When asked if she had plans to run for the presidency, she said it is too early to discuss the matter at this time, saying that her focus is on her office’s COVID-19 response and livelihood initiatives around the country.
“I don’t have plans yet. I think it’s like a sin to think about the elections right now. There are many people going poor right now, and there are many [COVID-19] cases. There’s still a lot that can happen. If we think about the election now, we can’t do our job,” she told media in Filipino.
She added that her trip was part of her regular activities as vice president, which was only stalled when the pandemic hit.
“I’ve always been here. From 2016 up to now, I’ve been travelling around the country. I also went to places other than Iloilo. We always go to where our projects are, and we’ve never stopped. We only weren’t able to do it when the flights stopped because of the pandemic,” she said.
She added that her office will also invest in the procurement of vaccines, which she said has become “more urgent” citing the surge in cases in Metro Manila.
Robredo visited several towns in the province to meet with local leaders and inspect the ongoing projects of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), which she had been championing since 2016.
According to the vice president, Iloilo province is one of the areas in the country that received many OVP-initiated projects.
On Monday, she visited OVP projects in the towns of San Joaquin, Guimbal, Oton, Sta. Barbara, and Cabatuan.
Earlier on Tuesday, she went to the northern parts of Iloilo province, particularly the towns of Anilao, Concepcion, and Carles.
Talking about their initiatives, she said that malnutrition rates in Concepcion and Carles saw “dramatic improvement”.
“We still have a lot do, but we are getting there. We just need to monitor using our metrics the targets to say that our programs were successful,” said Robredo.
One of her latest stops on Tuesday was the Iloilo City government’s Uswag Molecular Laboratory in Molo district, which the OVP also helped provide with equipment.
She said that her office had released P4.9 million for molecular laboratories both in the city and province of Iloilo and had recently downloaded another P4.5 million for the equipment.
