Potential Leni-BBM alliance comes into focus with Sara’s 2028 presidential bid 

By Carlito Pablo

The 2028 presidential election in the Philippines may yet prove again that politics is the art of the possible.

That is, if the previously unimaginable alliance between Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr. comes into being, if only to prevent Sara Duterte from becoming the next president.

The potential for a Robredo-Marcos coalition comes into sharp focus as Duterte has declared her bid for the highest office of the land in 2028.

Consistently topping surveys, Duterte, currently Vice President of the Philippines, is considered the candidate to beat.

Meanwhile, Marcos, as the current President of the nation, is barred by the Constitution from seeking another term.

There are suggestions for Marcos and his supporters to back Robredo in 2028 to prevent Duterte from winning the presidency.

Marcos and Duterte ran as a team in the 2022 national election, but their alliance soon frayed and they are now bitter enemies.

To illustrate, Duterte claimed in a videotaped tirade that she has contracted an assassin to kill Marcos as well as his wife and a cousin.

Meanwhile, it was under the Marcos administration that saw the arrest of Duterte’s father and previous president Rodrigo Duterte. The older Duterte is now detained at The Hague, Netherlands and accused before the International Criminal Court (ICC) of alleged crimes against humanity.

For background, Marcos in the 2022 presidential derby defeated Robredo, now mayor of Naga City in the southern Luzon region of the Philippines.

In 2016, Robredo bested Marcos for the position of Vice President.

On February 18, 2026, Duterte formally declared her plan to run for president in 2028.

Three days later on February 21, Marcos met Robredo in Naga City to inspect flood control mitigation projects, an event that sparked talks that 2028 is part of their agenda.

To make things more interesting, Marcos bared that he was wearing pink socks. Pink is the political colour of Robredo.

“We’re not talking about that,” Marcos responded to questions from media if their meeting had a political agenda. 

“You know, I think the mayor will agree with me that it’s service first before politics. The most political thing we did today [was] I wore my pink socks. My pink socks in honor of Mayor Leni,” Marcos continued.

Manila Times columnist Antonio Contreras has been writing a lot about 2028 and particularly regarding the value of a Marcos-backed Robredo presidential candidacy.

In a March 5, 2026 piece titled “The arithmetic of preventing a Duterte restoration”, Contreras pointed out that 2028 is not going to be a “replay of old rivalries”. 

“It is the possibility of a dangerous consolidation of power under a Duterte restoration. If that is the risk, the strategic question is simple: What configuration prevents it?” the opinion writer asked.

“Seen through that lens, a Marcos endorsement of Robredo is not ideological treason. It is a strategic realignment. It acknowledges that defeating a consolidated machine may require an equally consolidated counterweight,” Contreras provided the answer.

Contreras explained, “Sara Duterte begins any 2028 race with a structural advantage. Her base, hovering around 30 percent in a multi-cornered contest, is cohesive and disciplined. In a fragmented field, that alone is formidable. Robredo’s core base is smaller. Loyal and energized, but insufficient on its own. If she runs, victory will not come from consolidation alone, but from expansion. She should grow her base.”

“It is a fact that President Marcos retains a loyal constituency that is more organizational than ideological. If he endorses a candidate, many will follow. While some Marcos loyalists will refuse to vote for Robredo, they would probably abstain, or cast a protest vote, but will not transfer to Sara Duterte. In plurality contests, preventing your opponent from expanding is as important as expanding yourself. Even imperfect transfer yields advantage,” Contreras wrote.

Duterte is currently facing impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives due to alleged corruption and her threat to have Marcos assassinated.

If convicted in trial before the Senate, Duterte will be disqualified from running for public office, which would take her out of the 2028 race.

Edgar Erice, a member of the House of Representatives, noted in a March 5, 2026 report by the South China Morning post that a Duterte victory in 2028 poses an existential threat to Marcos.

“Because if Sara wins, then there are only two options for the president [when his term ends in 2028]: either to go to jail or to go [into] exile,” Erice said.