Former vice president Leni Robredo cannot sit in the sidelines – again – and decide at the last minute to lead the opposition if it is to block the attempts of the Dutertes to return to power or foil the Marcos administration’s alleged goal of staying in power beyond 2028.
Former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes, founder and president of the Magdalo party-list, criticized Robredo, who has been mum on relevant national issues since her defeat in the 2022 presidential elections, in the May 31 episode of VERA Files’ Tres from Tress podcast with senior editor Tress Martelino-Reyes.
Tres From Tress Show Live Episode: Anyare sa opposition?
“What the opposition needs now is a leader who is in the thick of things, not someone who is invisible. Hindi pwedeng leader ka nga, nandoroon ka, nakatago ka. (You can’t be a leader, but you’re hiding behind…) That is not how a leader should act,” Trillanes said to express frustration over Robredo’s non-participation in political affairs.
With Robredo missing in action, the former lawmaker and his group have turned to Sen. Risa Hontiveros as leader of the “independent opposition,” with Trillanes saying she is a viable presidential candidate for the opposition in 2028.
“In the case ni Sen. Risa Hontiveros, talagang she’s in the thick of the action. Pinamumunuan niya kung saan dapat pamunuan. Kaya ‘yun ang gusto nating mga katangian ng isang leader,” he said.
(In the case of Sen. Risa Hontiveros, she’s really in the thick of the action. She leads where she needs to lead. Those are the qualities we want in a leader.)
Hontiveros, national chairperson of Akbayan Party, chairs the Senate Committee on Women, Children and Family Relations and is one of only two members of the minority bloc in the chamber.
Recently, she has led legislative inquiries into the alleged human trafficking and sexual abuse cases involving Apollo Quiboloy, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s spiritual adviser and Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader and on Bamban Mayor Alice Guo’s possible ties to questionable Philippine offshore gaming operators.
Tapping the ‘Pink Movement’
Trillanes urged opposition groups, particularly the “pink movement” or those who supported Robredo in the 2022 election, to “open their eyes” and shift their support to Hontiveros, who ran under Robredo’s ticket and won in 2022.
The former senator claimed that the former vice president’s “reluctant gimmick” has passed.
“It’s either mag-antay ulit kami kay VP Leni na baka 2027 pa siya, one week before the filing, mag-decide or dito kami kay Sen. Risa Hontiveros para sumama kami sa pag-prepare. So ngayon, ako rin po, kami po ay naghihikayat nu’ng iba’t ibang grupo na kasama nu’ng Pink movement na dito na tayo para mas maging proactive tayo, hindi tayo nag-aantay hangga[ng] sa dulo,” Trillanes added.
(It’s either we wait again for VP Leni, who might decide one week before the filing [of certificates of candidacy] in 2027, or we support Sen. Risa Hontiveros so that we can join in the preparations. So now, I, too, we are encouraging the different groups that are with the Pink movement, that we should choose this so that we can be more proactive and we won’t wait until the end.)
Trillanes reasoned that a “proactive” Hontiveros would be a better choice over Robredo.
“Ang tyansa nu’ng magiging oposisyon by 2028 is going to be bigger kasi nga magkakaroon na tayo ng mas proactive na leader in the person of Sen. Risa Hontiveros. Ngayon, hindi po ‘yan paghahati-hati ng oposisyon kasi [w]ala naman na si VP Leni. Umatras na siya altogether. Hindi na natin siya nakikita, hindi na siya nagsasalita sa mga maiinit na isyu ng bayan,” Trillanes pointed out.
(The chance for the upcoming opposition in 2028 is going to be bigger because we will have a more proactive leader in the person of Sen. Risa Hontiveros. Now, that is not a division of the opposition because VP Leni is out of the picture. She has stepped back altogether. We no longer see her, she no longer speaks on the hot issues of the town.)
In a June 4 Viber message to VERA Files, lawyer Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s former spokesman, said Robredo’s plans for 2025 “remain open-ended.”
He said the former vice president, reported to be interested in running for a local government position in her home province of Camarines Sur, is “considering several options and will make her own announcement at the appropriate time.”
Gutierrez said Hontiveros has been the leader of the political opposition since 2022.
“As early as June 2022, VP Leni already passed on the torch to Sen. Risa,” he noted.
However, former senator Leila de Lima, spokesperson of the Liberal Party, said last February that they were still in talks with Robredo’s camp about her plans for the 2025 midterm elections.
Robredo is currently the chairperson and president of the non-government organization Angat Buhay Foundation, which aims, among others, to ease poverty. She recently held fundraising campaigns in the United States for the NGO.
While Trillanes admitted that Hontiveros has yet to accept the challenge to be the independent opposition’s standard bearer in 2028, he proposed a convention of the groups within the Pink movement after next year’s midterm elections to choose their candidate.
“They can have a debate kagaya sa (like in the) U.S. Hindi ito (It is not) annointed. Let us test them sa iba’t ibang mga issue at doon tayo magpilian,” he said.
(Let us test them on different issues and then we decide.)
Nothing set in stone yet
Trillanes, however, noted that a lot can still happen and other candidates can still emerge.
“Hindi natin alam kung sino ‘yung bagong senador na mae-elect nitong 2025, na pwedeng tingnan as a prospective candidate. So kumbaga, wala po tayong i-rule out at this point,” he stressed.
(We do not know who will be elected as new senators in 2025, who can be viewed as a prospective candidate. So, we don’t have anything to rule out at this point.)
He also raised that the opposition still has to consolidate its base.
“Kailangan po kasi nating i-consolidate muna ‘yung base. Sa ganoong role, si Sen. Risa, she’s willing to do it. Not necessarily for 2028, but to put the opposition in a position to compete sa 2028,” Trillanes said.
(We first need to consolidate the base. In that role, Sen. Risa, she’s willing to do it. Not necessarily for 2028, but to put the opposition in a position to compete in 2028.)
