Leni has “biggest chance of winning” against Sara in 2028

By Carlito Pablo

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan has a wish for the 2028 presidential election in the Philippines.

It’s to see former vice president and now Naga city mayor Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo run again for the highest office of the land.

Pangilinan, who ran as the vice-presidential candidate of Robredo in the 2022 election, expressed the sentiment in a social media post on November 21, 2025, amid popular discontent over government corruption.

The senator stated that he’d prefer to see the public encourage Robredo to make another stab at the presidency, rather than demand the resignation of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

So far, Robredo has shown no interest in returning to national politics and appears to be content as mayor of Naga.

But should she decide to run for president in 2028, Robredo will likely go against current Vice President Sara Duterte, who is considered as the candidate to beat.

Robredo may become president this time.

As Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Joel Ruiz Butuyan noted, Robredo has the “biggest chance” of defeating Duterte.

Butuyan made this analysis in his piece “Forward or backward in 2028”, which was published on November 13, 2025.

“VP Sara will be a formidable presidential candidate in 2028 because she has multiple blocs of solid supporters. There are die-hard Duterte supporters, who constitute a sizable base and who are unshakable in their support. There are members of religious groups who will obediently follow the directives of their leaders to vote for VP Sara. These include the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Jesus Is Lord of Cibac party list Rep. Eddie Villanueva and Sen. Joel Villanueva, and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ of Apollo Quiboloy. There will also be command votes from politicians embroiled in corruption scandals who foresee an escape from liability under a Sara Duterte presidency,” Butuyan noted.

With regards to the Marcos camp, there appears to be no viable successor to the President.

Hence, Butuyan wrote: “There is a dire need, therefore, to select, groom, and consolidate support for a candidate who has the biggest chance of winning against VP Sara at the polls.”

“The only political leaders who stand a chance against the VP are those outside the Marcos camp. In my unsolicited calculation, these leaders are the following: Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Raffy Tulfo, and former Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre. Of these four, Robredo still has the biggest chance, and any one of the rest can serve as her vice presidential candidate.”

To boost her chances of winning against Duterte, Butuyan suggested that Robredo must “form alliances with the Marcoses and all other anti-Duterte forces, no matter how tarnished their past may have been”. 

“To maintain an idealist stand will be a guaranteed formula to lose in the 2028 elections. In fact, to be an idealist in 2028 is to naively be pro-VP Sara. It is immensely important that all anti-Duterte groups embrace a pragmatic stand, build a united coalition, and support a common candidate for 2028. The idealists among the yellow and pink forces must suspend their puritanical beliefs for 2028. For our country to get out of the hellhole, we must first wade through the mud before we reach dry and solid ground. It would be delusional daydreaming for anyone to think that we can leapfrog from the sh*thole to the Garden of Eden.”

Robredo herself spoke about political pragmatism in connection with the presidential race in 2028.

In an interview on the Linya-Linya podcast on July 11, 2025, which was reported on by GMA Integrated News, she cited the broad-based campaign that brought her allies Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV and Pangilinan back to the Senate in the May 12, 2025 mid-term elections.

“Sa atin lang, if we fight right, may chance tayo. Gaya ng ginawa nila Senator Bam (Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan), kung gusto natin manalo, kailangan mas lawakan natin iyong space natin para sa dissenting views. ‘Yung support pa din ng base [ang nagdala]. Pero more than that, ‘yung strategy din na in-employ nila,” Robredo said when asked about 2028.

(If we fight right, we have a chance. Just like what Senators Bam and Kiko did. They allowed space for those with dissenting views. The base delivered for them, but on top of that, it was this strategy that they employed that delivered.)

“Hindi sila naging purist, mas naging pragmatic na klaro sa isip na kailangan itong ipanalo. Maraming desisyon na ginagawa kami for Bam and Kiko. ‘Yung feeling ng iba na parang naging traitor na agad for the cause, pero actually necessary siya para makatawid. Parang nag-pay off naman in the end. They did what needs to be done na without sacrificing their principles,” Robredo said.

(They were not purists, they were pragmatic and had a clear mind that the victory was needed. A lot of decisions were made for them, and some felt it was a betrayal of the cause, but actually it was necessary and paid off in the end. They did what needs to be done without sacrificing their principles.)