BBM-Leni “strategic unity” seen as foil to Sara in 2028

By Carlito Pablo

Analysts are convinced that there is only one way to stop Sara Duterte from becoming the next president of the Philippines.

It’s through an alliance between the camps of President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr. and former vice president and now Naga City Mayor Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

The latest to advance this view is commentator Gino Borlado, who suggests that a “strategic opposition unity” against Duterte may be emerging.

In an October 15, 2025 post on his Morning Coffee Thoughts site, Borlado noted that the Marcos camp has lost a potential successor to Marcos with the ouster of his cousin Martin Romualdez as Speaker of the House of Representatives due to allegations of corrupt practices.

“The fallout from Romualdez’s collapse didn’t just weaken the Marcos family—it changed the landscape around them,” Borlado wrote. 

“With no clear heir to take on Sara Duterte, it’s possible that new alignments are forming quietly behind the scenes. 

“Maybe not formal coalitions, but shared interests. 

“The kind that make once-rival camps start watching each other differently, if only because they both see the same threat ahead,” Borlado continued.

It may be recalled that Marcos and Robredo competed against each other for the presidency in the 2022 election, with Duterte as Marcos’s vice-presidential partner. In that election, the Robredo camp adopted pink as their political colour, hence they were called Kakampinks.

Borlado asked: “What happens when two political enemies discover they might share a threat?”

“The Marcos administration and the Kakampink opposition could soon find themselves in that position. 

“Their mutual goal, at least in theory, would be the same: stop Sara Duterte from taking Malacañang in 2028,” Borlado suggested.

The commentator continued: “Recent political shifts suggest what could be an emerging, quiet alignment between Marcos supporters and anti-Duterte groups, including remnants of the Liberal Party and the Kakampink movement.”

“During the 2025 midterm elections, some Kakampinks openly backed Marcos-aligned candidates, reasoning that blocking Sara Duterte mattered more than old grudges. 

“We can deal with the Marcoses later,” one supporter wrote online. It’s a pragmatic, uneasy truce—born not out of friendship, but necessity.

“For Marcos, Sara is a direct threat. For Kakampinks, Sara is a threat to the Philippines.  

“But here’s the rub: Kakampinks see both the Marcoses and the Dutertes as problems for the Philippines. 

“It’s one of those moments when, even for the principled, you need to pick the lesser evil,” Borlado wrote.

Duterte has consistently topped surveys of public choices for the next president of the Philippines in the 2028 election.

Previously, Manila Times columnist Antonio Contreras, in a piece titled “The mirage of a lame-duck Marcos and a resurgent Duterte”, noted that Marcos could serve as a “bulwark” against a “Duterte redux” in 2028.

“Fear of a Duterte restoration may ironically push moderates, liberals and even some progressives into reluctant alignment with Marcos. A centrist bloc formed less from admiration than from strategic necessity may see in Marcos a flawed but predictable counterweight to the uncertainties of a second Duterte presidency,” Contreras wrote.

Another Manila Times columnist Lloyd C. Bautista has noted that a Duterte comeback can only be stopped by a “united front”.

“This means a common presidential standard bearer in 2028 representing Marcos loyalists, anti-Marcos moderates and center-left parties. The president’s enduring legacy must be the unification of these forces under one tent. 

“And the liberal democrats, if they wish to be relevant, must be open to cross the aisle and soften their ideological purism for the greater good,” Bautista wrote in a piece titled “Drinking from the poisonous well of Sara’s impeachment trial”.

“Otherwise, these forces will be assured of mutual annihilation when the Duterte forces take back power.”

Going back to Borlado’s piece on October 15 piece titled “The Marcos Succession Dilemma: Who Will Fill the Political Vacuum Left by Romualdez?”, the political commentator noted that Robredo is a force to reckon with in 2028.

“She’s publicly said she has no plans to run in 2028, but many still see her as the only figure who can unite the anti-Duterte bloc. Analysts say her contrast with Sara Duterte remains her biggest advantage,” Borlado said about Robredo.