Spox confident 'the numbers will be there' for a VP Leni prexy run

The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo is unfazed by the latest Pulse Asia survey on possible presidential candidates showing her trailing her potential rivals at sixth place.

Robredo's spokesperson, lawyer Barry Gutierrez, was referring to the latest Pulse Asia survey showing her getting a 6% rating, behind Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, former Senator Bongbong Marcos, Senator Grace Poe and Senator Manny Pacquiao.

"Vice President Leni's numbers are respectable, considering that she has been focused on working on COVID-19 response initiatives and has paid no attention to the frantic positioning for 2022 at all," Gutierrez said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We remain confident, when, and if, she decides to run for President, the numbers will be there. Hindi pa nagsisimula ang laban (the battle is yet to start)," he added.

Without mentioning names, Gutierrez also threw jabs at potential candidates whose faces he said were featured in huge tarpaulins even if they keep on denying that they are running in 2022.

"Yung iba diyan, deny ng deny na tatakbo, pero nagkalat naman ang mukha at pangalan sa mga billboard at tarp," he said.

"Si Vice President Leni, trabaho lang ang tutok [For Vice President Leni, her focus is on work]."

The Vice President had earlier said in her radio show that she would rather focus more on responding to the global pandemic than on next year's elections.

She expressed hope that politicians would focus on helping lessen the blow of the coronavirus disease 2019 and helping Filipinos survive the pandemic.

"Nakikita mo 'yun ngayon, 'yung mga malalaking pulitiko, may election o walang election, election ang nasa isip... Nalulungkot lang ako," she said.

"Ang taas din ng [COVID-19] cases, iyon na muna asikasuhin. Ang eleksyon, next year pa iyon... Ngayon, marami tayong problema doon na muna," Robredo added.

Recently, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, and Sara Duterte have been seen making the rounds, holding consultation meetings in different parts of the country ahead of next May's elections.

Apart from meeting with Sara, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had also separately met with House Majority Floor Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the party president, Senator Imee Marcos and former Senator Bong Bong Marcos. 

Sara Duterte's topping the survey came amid an internal conflict within the political party of her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, in which several ranking members were expelled by party president Sen. Manny Pacquiao for allegedly supporting Sara Duterte in next year's polls despite her being a party outsider.

Sara Duterte, who belongs to Hugpong ng Pagbabago, earlier criticized Robredo for suggesting that Davao City should learn from the experience of Cebu City in addressing the steady rise of COVID-19 cases there.

Sara insisted the Vice President doesn’t know anything about the situation in Mindanao.

In its recent report, the OCTA Research Group said occupancy of Intensive Care Units remained very high in Davao with 94%, Iloilo City with 98% and Santa Rosa, Laguna with 87%.

Davao City was earlier among the five cities flagged by OCTA as areas of concern due to their upward COVID-19 trends. —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK/MDM, GMA News