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Row over Duterte's visit to Robredo not a red flag for opposition, analysts say

Article (news)

Jonathan Frederic De Santos

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte&#x27;s visit to former Vice President Leni Robredo in Naga City has triggered a firestorm on social media, but analysts said backlash over it does not necessarily mean a rift in the mainstream political opposition.</p><p>Decimated in the 2019 and 2022 elections, the mainstream opposition has been represented by the Liberal Party and its ally Akbayan party, with Sen. Risa Hontiveros now the ranking elected official from that formation.</p><p>Political analyst Ronald Llamas, a former Akbayan president, said he does not see a &quot;substantial fissure&quot; between Hontiveros and Robredo, adding stirring speculation about it may have been the point of Vice President Duterte&#x27;s visit to Naga for the Penafrañcia festival.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/21/robredo-says-all-welcome-in-her-naga-home-for-pe-afrancia-festival-1215">•‘Walang kulay ng politika’: Robredo says all welcome in her Naga home for Peñafrancia festival</a></div><p>&quot;Kaya ginagawa niya yung ganitong klaseng mga activities. To change the narrative, to sow intrigue sa mga ibang political forces like the &#x27;Pink&#x27; and the &#x27;Yellow&#x27; and also to sow intrigue doon sa gobyerno,&quot; Llamas said on ANC&#x27;s &quot;Headstart&quot; on Monday morning.</p><p>(She is doing these activities to change the narrative, to sow intrigue among other political forces like the &#x27;Pink&#x27; and the &#x27;Yellow&#x27; and to sow intrigue in government)</p><p>Yellow has been the campaign color of the LP since the 2010 elections, when LP senator Benigno Aquino III was elected to Malacañang.</p><p>Robredo, while retaining her LP membership in the 2022 polls, used pink as her campaign color.</p><p>Llamas noted that influencers and pundits linked to the Duterte have been pushing the narrative of a rift in the opposition.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MRAZ12L5SAk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><strong></strong></div><div><strong>TRILLANES CALLS OUT ROBREDO</strong></div><p>Among the loudest criticism of the meeting came from former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a member of the opposition and an outspoken Duterte critic, who asked whether Robredo was &quot;siding&quot; with Duterte.</p><p>For Anthony Lawrence Borja, a political science professor at De La Salle University, Trillanes&#x27; criticism was &quot;due more to a knee jerk reaction than something more fundamental.&quot;</p><p>He noted, though, that a fracture in the mainstream opposition could happen if Robredo&#x27;s decision to focus on running for mayor of Naga City leads to a &quot;power vacuum&quot; and if someone challenges Hontiveros as leader of the opposition.</p><p>&quot;If a fissure of such a magnitude occurs, then it will secure the electoral loss of the Liberal group,&quot; he said in an online exchange with ABS-CBN News.</p><p>Arjan Aguirre, a faculty member of the political science department at Ateneo de Manila University, said that Trillanes has tended to make &quot;unilateral statements and claims that seem to sometimes hurt and cause harm&quot; to the political opposition.</p><p>Earlier this year, Trillanes proposed an alliance with the Marcos Jr. administration, an idea that Hontiveros said she understood but is unlikely to happen.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/6/28/hontiveros-rejects-joint-2025-slate-with-marcos-admin-due-to-historical-issues-1336">• Hontiveros rejects joint 2025 slate with Marcos admin due to &#x27;historical issues&#x27;</a></div><p>Aguirre told ABS-CBN News that it seems Trillanes &quot;has been out of the loop in the inner circle of the Liberal forces in the opposition and that he is really trying his best to assert his role by saying those a bit offhand comments.&quot;</p><p>Llamas said that Trillanes&#x27; objections should be respected but that the former Navy officer is speaking &quot;from a different political alliance at this point.&quot;</p><p>Trillanes <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/15/aksyon-demokratiko-to-field-trillanes-as-caloocan-mayoralty-bet-in-2025-elections-1944">plans to run for mayor of Caloocan City</a> under Aksyon Demokratiko, the party led by former Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, who, in the final days of the 2022 election campaign <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/17/22/isko-to-robredo-withdraw-from-presidential-race">called on Robredo to withdraw from the race</a>.</p><div><strong>WHO IS LEFT IN THE OPPOSITION?</strong></div><p>Akbayan and the Liberal Party have so far identified three candidates for the Senate: Former Sen. Francis Pangilinan of the LP, former Sen. Bam Aquino of <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/14/bam-aquino-leaves-liberal-party-to-lead-katipunan-ng-nagkakaisang-pilipino-2233">Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino</a>, and human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, who will be running under Akbayan.</p><p>The Makabayan coaliton, which has three seats at the House of Representatives, is fielding 10 candidates for senator so far, including ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, Kilusang Mayo Uno Secretary General Jerome Adonis and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chair Danilo Ramos.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/26/makabayan-coalition-names-3-more-senate-candidates-for-2025-slate-1258">• Makabayan coalition names 3 more Senate candidates for 2025 slate</a></div><p><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/15/labor-leaders-leody-de-guzman-luke-espiritu-announce-senatorial-bid-2258">Labor leaders Leody de Guzman and Luke Espiritu</a> have also announced their intent to run for Senate seats in the 2025 elections, as has labor lawyer Sonny Matula.</p><p>Speaking of the left opposition, DLSU&#x27;s Borja said:  &quot;It would take several rounds of elections before they can reverse the habit of Filipinos to see them as a disunited bunch of mere trouble-makers.&quot; </p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/20/go-bato-philip-salvador-join-pdp-s-senatorial-lineup-for-2025-2224">• Go, &#x27;Bato&#x27;, Philip Salvador join PDP&#x27;s senatorial lineup for 2025</a></div><p>The left, particularly those in the national democratic activist movement, has been subjected to vilification as well as attempts to keep them out of mainstream politics.</p><p>&quot;Fielding their own slate might be a watershed moment, but the fact that Leody de Guzman and Luke Espiritu have yet to join the Makabayan slate projects the same image of a disunited left,&quot; Borja said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tvOhkhmumc0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Decimated in the 2019 and 2022 elections, the mainstream opposition has been represented by the Liberal Party and its ally Akbayan party, with Sen. Risa Hontiveros now the ranking elected official from that formation.</p>

Decimated in the 2019 and 2022 elections, the mainstream opposition has been represented by the Liberal Party and its ally Akbayan party, with Sen. Risa Hontiveros now the ranking elected official from that formation.