In a tight six-way race for the vice presidency, administration bet Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo hopes to get the three million “Bicol bloc vote” to her advantage against five other VP bets hailing from the region.
“If you can remember, when I first accepted this call, I made it sure that I go home here to seek permission from all of you,” Robredo told crowds in Naga City on Saturday.
“Now, I will be engaged in another fight. February’s already the start of the campaign, and I’m here to ask for your patience since I cannot visit you all weekly. Above all, I’m here to draw strength from all of you. This fight isn’t only mine, this is for all of us,” Robredo said.
According to data from the Commission on Elections, the Bicol Region has three million registered voters, the fifth largest in the country. The region recorded a voters’ turnout of 81.96 percent during the 2013 midterm elections.
Three politicians are counting on this region for support: Senator Francis Escudero, who hails from Sorsogon; Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo; and Senator Antonio Trillanes, who has roots in Albay.
Another son of Sorsogon is Senator Gregorio Honasan, who is the United Nationalist Alliance’s vice presidential bet. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, whose wife, Taguig Mayor Laarni Cayetano traces her roots also from Albay, is the vice presidential teammate of Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Robredo made speaking tours to various Bicol provinces last Saturday in hopes of getting the “Bicol vote,” like Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who has the strong backing of the “Solid North.”
“We really intended to have a Bicol run before the start of the official campaign period. Civil society groups initiated this. We were only invited,” Robredo said.
“It’s called the Bicoleni Express because this will mirror our aspirations and frustrations as a people,” she said.
In the recent The Standard poll for vice president last December, the Bicol vote was statistically split between Robredo at 34 percent and consistent survey frontrunner Escudero, pegged at 37 percent.
Robredo said that she wanted to reform and strengthen the country’s barangay system to make it more effective in delivering basic and crucial services to the public.
“Strengthening barangay governance is at the heart of making government more effective, accountable, and inclusive in its public service,” Robredo said after filing House Bill 6387 or the Barangay Reform Act
Robedo said the empowerment of barangays will lead to an effective implementation of various government priority programs and projects, particularly the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and the Bottom Up Budgeting.
In the proposed law, barangays will be relieved of some financial duties by nationalizing the honorarium of one barangay health worker and 20 tanods in each barangay in the country.
“The effective implementation of these and other government priority programs depend on barangay structures that work, led by empowered barangay leaders,” Robredo said.