Leni: Fake news-fueled threat of corrupt politics spurred presidential run

Confronted with her answer while running for vice president that she would not seek the presidency, Vice President Leni Robredo said things were a lot different now than six years ago in 2016.

In a debate organized by CNN Philippines, Robredo said fake news and disinformation had resulted in the potential return of a politics of corruption and plunder.

She said she tried but failed to unite all presidential contenders to stop the threat.

"Noong 2016, wala talaga akong balak tumakbo [sa pagkapresidente]. Nag promise ako sa mga anak ko na huling eleksyon na sa aming pamilya iyong 2016," Robredo said.

"Pero nakita natin iyong 2016 to 2021... Dahil sa fake news, disinformation at propaganda ang namayani, naroon na ang threat ng pagbabalik na pulitika na nagdala ng corruption, nagdala ng plunder in the past, iyong klase ng pulitika na nagpahirap sa ating lahat," she added.

The other vice presidential candidate who said in 2016 that he would not run for president, former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., declined the invitation to attend Sunday's debate.

He had been leading the presidential preference surveys.

Robredo didn't name names but Marcos is the son of the late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos who had been found accountable for human rights abuses and guilty of massive corruption. 

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, the government agency constitutionally tasked to recover the Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth, has so far recovered P174 billion worth of loot.

"Dahil sa threat ng pagbabalik ng pulitikang ito, sinubukan kong pag isahin ang mga contenders para di ko na kailangan tumakbo. Sinubukan ko na kausapin, ayain lahat, pero hindi ako nagtagumpay kaya kumandidato ako," Robredo added. —NB, GMA News