MANILA, Philippines — “If unity was not possible among the presidential contenders, I have not given up on unifying our people.”
These are the words of Vice President Leni Robredo on what is perceived to be an already impossible task of uniting the presidential candidates against the administration due to the seeming limitation set by the Robredo-initiated Unity Talks.
Robredo, however, said that she is not losing hope in unifying individuals from different groups, starting from the senatorial line-up under her ticket with Senator Francis Pangilinan who will run as her vice president.
Robredo-Pangilinan camp has yet to finalize its senatorial slate but the vice president assured that the lineup represents individuals from different parties.
She stressed that only three among them are from the Liberal Party, a staunch supporter of the vice president.
“When I decided to run for the vice (sic) presidency, it was my signal to move on already from all attempts to unify the personalities and the parties.”
“We are very hopeful that unity is still possible, maybe not among the presidential contenders but definitely among many different kinds of people from different political affiliations.”
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo Lacson who is also a presidential aspirant, said that the Unity Talks does not really aim at achieving unity, following the meeting that he and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III had with VP Robredo.
Lacson admitted to feeling slighted by the alleged plan of a Robredo-Sotto tandem.
“Si Sen. Drilon mismo, tinuro niya si VP Leni at si SP Tito Sotto na sila’y magkatandem, in my face. It’s good that I didn’t notice it, I was informed by SP after our meeting. Sabi niya ‘Hindi mo ba napansin na yung dalawang daliri ni Frank nakaturo samin dalawa?’ Parang effectively telling me in my face to withdraw and mag-create ng bagong tandem between the VP and Senate President. So sa akin, when I was told that, I felt insulted,” Lacson said.
Sotto, meanwhile, believes that Robredo’s attempt for unity talks is already a belated move as the Lacson-Sotto tandem has already established an organized alliance with different parties nationwide.
“Too late for us for any unity talks even at that time. We were already organized and set up nationwide. We are now forming a cooperative alliance between NUP, NPC, REPORMA, and UNA,” Sotto said. —/mbmf (from the report of UNTV Correspondent Harlene Delgado)
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