VICE President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo said that political mergers should not only be exclusive to rich politicians and political families and should not limit the choices of the people for public servants.
Robredo, who was here in Bacolod City Wednesday, October 10, made the statement when asked for her reaction about the merger of two major political groups in the province, the United Negros Alliance (Unega) and Love Negros.
"We want a kind of politics that regardless of your status in life, anyone should be given a chance to public service. We don't want a merger which is only exclusive to rich political families," she said.
Robredo explained that local politics has different parameters because people in the respective communities are so much involved unlike in the national politics.
"In local politics what is always important is the people. The question with the merger is that, is it to the better interest of the people in Negros? If the answer is yes, then it's good. What is not good is if the merger is meant to bar the opportunities to others to be in the political scene," Robredo explained.
Robredo did not specify if her political party, the Liberal Party (LP), will also support or field local candidates.
Senatorial bets
Meanwhile, Robredo named three senatorial candidates of the Liberal Party. They are reelectionist Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel "Chel" Diokno, and former Quezon representative and LP internal affairs vice president Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III.
"We will not preempt our scheduled formal announcement on October 24. We are still finalizing some things,” if they will field a complete slate or not, she said. “I advocate that we will field only eight candidates. We want to offer quality candidates to the people. We are working on it," she added.
Robredo also called on the Filipino people to vote deserving candidates and not just those who are popular.
She made the appeal in the midst of the low ratings of the senatorial candidates from the opposition.
She said that the low ratings are expected.
"The president is popular and in midterm elections, it is a factor. But it should not be a reason to vote for someone just because he or she is popular or winnable but we should choose who is deserving. We want to present an alternative who may not be popular or known but has a long experience of public service," she pointed out.