MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo has transferred her voter registration from Naga City to Magarao town in Camarines Sur, her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez confirmed Friday, paving the way for a potential run as the province’s governor.
But Gutierrez was quick to say that the transfer of Robredo’s voter registration does not mean that she has opted to run for Camarines Sur governor instead of running for president.
“She’s been very clear that insofar as the possibility of a gubernatorial run is concerned, that has to wait for a decision on ‘yung kaniyang pagtakbo (her running) for president,” he said.
Gutierrez said Robredo’s lawyers advised her to transfer voter registration as they “wanted consistency in her actual residence.”
Robredo is open to running for a local post, but has said that she is prioritizing her work at the national level, including negotiations with political personalities to forge unity among non-administration candidates in the hopes of building a single opposition ticket who would go head-to-head with President Rodrigo Duterte’s anointed bets.
The vice president is still undecided on her political plans even as the filing of certificates of candidacy have kicked off.
Opposition coalition 1Sambayan has picked her as its presidential bet for the 2022 elections, but she has not yet accepted this endorsement even as she remained thankful for the support.
Robredo, while viewed by her supporters as the only feasible choice for Malacañang, has been performing poorly in pre-election polls, with only 8% of Filipinos saying in the latest Pulse Asia survey that they would vote for her for president.