VETERANS of parliament of the streets have united and joined the clamor for the presidential run of Vice President Leni Gerona Robredo.
The group, calling itself Leni Tanging Pag-asa 2022, warned that “another six years of mishandled governance will not only plunge our economy in the gutter of bankruptcy, but it will also tear down all forms of decency and normality in our government and our society.”
“Leni Tanging Pag-asa is a crucial call to action,” the group said in a statement.
The group declared that it will use its “collective experience in the fields of electoral politics, parliament of the streets and development work to unite all reform-oriented people and the difference democratic political forces into a coalition yearning for hope and return to political normalcy and progressive economy.”
Members of the group have set aside past political and ideological differences to rekindle their involvement in the action for social change, “to make sure that never again shall we experience tyranny and suppression of our basic rights and another kind of dictatorial government,” the group said in a Statement of Unity published in newspapers around the country.
According to Noel Medina, the group is composed of former youth activists in the late ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s and the generation who have become professionals, development workers, small entrepreneurs, media practitioners, social media consultants, politicians and political workers who have been working in the national and local electoral processes.
Medina, a former Pasig City councilor, was one of the prime-movers of the progressive community-based youth group Kadena in the 1980s.
“Leni Tanging Pagasa will reach out to the broad masses and reform-minded politicians to push Vice President Leni Gerona Robredo to run for President in 2022,” said lawyer and Danao City Councilor Ed Lao, a 1980s figure of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), noting further that as a lawyer, “she has used her profession to help those who have less in law.”
The group according to Lao would engage formations like the 1Sambayan, political parties opposed to the Duterte regime,to campaign as independent advocacy groups whose primary objective is to gain victory for Robredo in the 2022 presidential election.
“As the elite are divided and traditional bureaucrats fight each other for their share of the loot from public coffers and national wealth, Vice President Robredo’s principled politics and body of work make her the genuine opposition—a people’s candidate who would use power for the upliftment of the poor and oppressed,” said BenCy Ellorin, a communications professional and a national officer of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) in the 1990s.
“Muling nabuhay ang dugo ng mga lider sa kabataan noong dekada ‘80 and ‘90 para ibangon ang dangal ng bayan. Leni Robredo para sa kinabukasan,” Medina added.
The group chose Robredo because it believes she stands for the Filipino people’s aspiration for Livelihood, Education, Nationalism, and Integrity.
It further said “VP Leni G. Robredo showed statesmanship by not allowing herself to be distracted by any amount of heckling, insults and foul-mouthing attacks and continued to do her job and duties even beyond that is required by her office as the second highest official of the land.”
The group has established chapters in the National Capital Region, Visayas and Mindanao. These groups according to Lao will establish regional chapters and eventually municipal formations to campaign for Robredo.
National Convenors of Leni Tanging Pag-asa 2022 is composed of Ricardo Serrano as president, Virgilio Roseno as executive vice president, Reynaldo Villarin as secretary general, and Medina, Lao and Ellorin as spokespersons. Leonardo Villarin is team leader for National Support Group and Pablo Gerasmio serves as Team Leader of the National Coordinating Group. (PR)