Panelo concedes that anyone qualified was free to run for president

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo simply referred to the Constitution when asked to weigh in on Vice President Leni Robredo's apparent openness to run for the presidency in 2022.

“The Constitution provides for qualifications that anyone falls in any qualification, he or she is free to run for the presidency,” Panelo told reporters on Saturday.

Robredo, who admitted facing "challenges" being in the opposition, had related that she was "leaving everything open."

“I’m leaving everything open. We still have three years before the next presidential elections. A lot can still happen, and I’ve always said that the presidency is a destiny," the vice president said in a television interview.

"There are so many politicians who have sought the presidency and have prepared for it for many years."

Robredo, a lawyer, also stressed during the interview that any vice president should have the readiness to assume the top post if anything happens to the president.

“When I ran for the vice presidency, that was one of the prerequisites—that I’m ready to be President. Because the mandate of the Philippine Vice President is to take over if anything happens to the President. So I would not have run for the vice presidency if I thought that I was not ready for the presidency,” she said.

While Robredo was confident that her term as vice president would end in 2022, in the interim, she would concentrate on her office’s anti-poverty program, Angat Buhay. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News