Robredo rules out 2028 national bid, says ‘nothing’ will change her mind

MANILA — Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo said Monday “nothing” would change her decision to rule out a run for national office in the 2028 elections and stay in her hometown. 

The former vice president said she had made the decision even before she decided to run for mayor. 

“It’s been a closed decision for a long time. Nothing will change it. That’s one thing I settled even before I ran for mayor: that I will not use my stint here as a stepping stone, something that I would just do temporarily while waiting for the 2028 elections,” Robredo said in Bicolano. 

(Madali para sakong simbagon ‘yan ta haloy nang sarado. Haloy nang sarado. Mayo nang anything na makakapagpabago… Sarong bagay yan na na-settle ko bago pa ako magdalagan bilang mayor na dae ko gagamiton ko an pagdalagan ko digdi garu stepping stone. Garong pansamanta habang mayo ako ingigibo, inhahalat ko an 2028.) 

“When I ran for mayor, that was part of my decision, that I will no longer leave Naga. Even if I decide later on that I will no longer serve as mayor, I won’t return to any national post,” she added. 

(Kan nagdalagan ako mayor, katakod yan si desisyon na dae na ako mahali sa Naga. Dawa mag-decide ako later on na dae na ako ma-mayor, dae na ako mabalik sa national.) 

She made the statement on the heels of OCTA Research Group’s third-quarter survey, which suggested that the gap of Vice President Sara Duterte and Robredo’s scores in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup was “narrowing.”

Robredo said she would end her government service in Naga. 

She added that she acknowledges her own shortcomings, which discourage her from returning to the national government.    

While she admitted that some people were urging her to seek a national post in 2028, she said she would no longer  change her mind.    

Robredo also clarified that she had not discussed the 2028 polls with Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon and Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who visited Naga recently.