The 2022 presidential campaign of Leni Robredo began on October 7, 2021, when she filed her candidacy for the 2022 Philippine presidential election. At the time of her filing, Leni Robredo was the incumbent vice president of the Philippines, to remain so until June 30, 2022. Robredo was also formerly a representative of Camarines Sur's 3rd congressional district, from 2013 to 2016.
Robredo had been considered as a potential presidential candidate for the 2022 elections since her win in the 2016 Philippine vice presidential election; in 2021, she publicly expressed her interest to run for the presidency. After being nominated by an opposition coalition, 1Sambayan, she officially announced her candidacy in a press conference on October 7, 2021. She ran as an independent candidate despite being the chairperson of the Liberal Party, a move she explained as signifying her openness to alliances. On October 8, Robredo announced that her running mate would be incumbent senator Francis Pangilinan. Their campaign was officially launched on February 8, 2022, in Robredo's hometown, Naga.
Robredo ran on a platform of good governance and transparency. To address the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines and its effects on the economy, she vowed to prioritize improving the country's healthcare system, developing the country's industries, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and providing stable employment.
Robredo lost the election to Bongbong Marcos, garnering 27.94% of the vote and placing second. Robredo later urged her supporters to accept the results of the election, but did not explicitly concede to Marcos. Had Robredo been elected, she would have been the third female Philippine president after Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the first president to come from the Bicol Region, and the third vice president to run for the presidency and win.
Background
2016 vice presidential campaign and vice presidency
Leni Robredo ran in the 2016 Philippine vice presidential election as the running mate of Mar Roxas under the Liberal Party ticket. She won with 14,418,817 votes, or 35.11 percent of cast ballots, narrowly defeating her closest rival, then Senator Bongbong Marcos, by 263,473 votes or by 0.64 percent, the narrowest margin since the 1965 vice presidential election. Marcos filed an electoral protest on June 29, 2016; this would be dismissed by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal on February 16, 2021. On June 30, 2016, Robredo was sworn in as vice president of the Philippines at the Quezon City Reception House.
Robredo previously expressed disinterest in running for higher office. During her 2016 campaign, she stated that incumbent vice presidents should be barred from seeking the presidency. She reiterated her disinterest in November 2020 and March 2021, but in June 2021, she changed her position and expressed her openness to running for the presidency.
1Sambayan
In March 2021, former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio launched 1Sambayan (read as "isambayan", meaning "one nation"), a coalition that aimed to place one opposition candidate. Carpio was aiming not to split the vote, pointing out that Duterte won over Mar Roxas and Grace Poe in 2016 because those who were against him were not united. 1Sambayan formally began its selection process for a presidential and vice-presidential tandem on June 12, 2021, when they announced their six initial nominees. These included senator Grace Poe, vice president Leni Robredo, former senator Antonio Trillanes, human rights lawyer and former senatorial candidate Chel Diokno, incumbent house deputy speaker Vilma Santos-Recto, and CIBAC representative and house deputy speaker Eddie Villanueva. In the middle of 2022, Robredo, Trillanes, and Villanueva expressed their support for unity under 1Sambayan.
On September 30, 2021, the 1Sambayan coalition of the opposition nominated Robredo as their standard bearer. Former education secretary Armin Luistro, one of the convenors of the group, announced Robredo's acceptance of the nomination and the filing of her candidacy on October 5. Robredo's spokesman later announced, however, that Robredo had yet to accept the nomination and would be announcing her decision before October 8.
Campaign
Announcement
On October 7, 2021, Robredo officially announced her candidacy and later filed her certificate of candidacy for the election. She ran as an independent politician rather than under the Liberal Party despite being its chairperson. Robredo's camp explained that this move represented her openness to forming alliances with other political groups. During the CNN Philippines presidential debate, she explained that she broke her previous vow to not run for the presidency because of fake news and disinformation, an enabling of corruption, and the "politics of the past." In a separate interview, she cited Bongbong Marcos' candidacy as one of the reasons that pushed her to run.
After Robredo announced her presidential candidacy, several sources from the Liberal Party indicated that the party's president, senator Francis Pangilinan, would be her running mate in her presidential bid. Pangilinan filed his candidacy for vice president a day after Robredo. While Robredo chose to file her candidacy as an independent candidate, despite remaining as the Liberal Party's chairperson, Pangilinan ran as the party's standard-bearer.
Key officials
Despite running as an independent, figures from the Liberal Party and its allied parties remained as key participants in her campaign. This included:
- Bam Aquino, former senator, cousin of former president Benigno Aquino III, campaign manager (Liberal)
- Erin Tañada, former deputy speaker, senate slate campaign manager
- Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson (Akbayan)
Branding
Robredo described her campaign as a "people's campaign," citing her supporters' efforts in organizing her campaign, with rallies organized by local chapters of a volunteer-driven Robredo People's Council (RPC).
On its launch, the color her campaign used was hot pink, to signify "protest and change," and was popularized by 'Dapat si Leni', a group of Robredo supporters. This was a deviation from the bright yellow motif commonly associated with the Liberals. Her campaign initially planned to use blue as their main campaign color, but was yet to adopt a final theme color when pink was already being used by supporters and associated with Robredo and her campaign. According to Robredo, pink is "the color of a personality that is open, listening, loving and loving." The campaign's supporters adopted the moniker kakampink, a portmanteau of kakampi, which is Filipino for "ally", and "pink".
On January 11, 2022, Robredo and her campaign team unveiled their campaign tagline, "Gobyernong Tapat, Angat Buhay Lahat" (Honest Government, a Better Life for All). Based on Robredo's Angat Buhay program under the Office of the Vice President, the slogan was made to reflect the campaign's platform of good governance and transparency. On February 7, a day before the official start of the election campaign season, Robredo's campaign adopted the pink rose flower as its official symbol.
Several songs were made for and used by the campaign. The song "Kay Leni Tayo" (We're for Leni) was created for free by Nica del Rosario, Mat Olavides, Jeli Mateo, and Justine Peña. Del Rosario wrote and recorded another song for the campaign, "Rosas" (Rose), featuring Gab Pangilinan (Francis Pangilinan's niece), while Ogie Alcasid released "Handa Ka Na Ba kay Leni" (Are You Ready for Leni). Other songs used in Robredo's campaign rallies included "Liwanag sa Dilim" (Light in the Dark) by Rivermaya and "Alapaap" by the Eraserheads. Although she had no official hand signs like her opponents, some of her supporters would use the Laban sign, that was used during the 1978 Interim Batasang Pambansa elections by Lakas ng Bayan or LABAN, a political party formed by former senator Ninoy Aquino. The hand signal was also used in the presidential campaign of former presidents Corazon Aquino in 1986 and her son Benigno Aquino III in 2010. Some say that her hand signal is being associated with the Liberal Party, however this was also used to refer to Robredo's first letter of her nickname. Others would prefer the Finger heart, a hand signal that was popularized in South Korea.
Rallies
On October 24, 2021, Robredo campaign volunteers held a nationwide "caravan of hope." An estimated 10,000 supporters joined the caravan.
On February 8, 2022, Robredo held her proclamation rally in Plaza Quezon in her hometown, Naga City, Camarines Sur. The proclamation rally was attended by Robredo, Pangilinan, and their senatorial slate. Prior to the proclamation rally, her campaign held a mini-rally in Libmanan, Camarines Sur.
On February 13, 2022, Robredo and her supporters held a campaign rally at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City. The rally, dubbed "Pink Sunday," was attended by at least 20,000 supporters. Due to the sheer number of supporters, the event resulted in a spillover crowd that violated several safety protocols set by the local government. Robredo's camp later apologized for the incident.
After the Pink Sunday rally, Robredo campaigned in the provinces of Capiz and Aklan. The following week, Robredo began her campaign in Mindanao with a rally and caravan in Iligan. Meanwhile, Pangilinan campaigned in Tarlac with his wife, Sharon Cuneta. On February 25, Robredo campaigned in Iloilo, with an estimated crowd of 40,000 joining her at the Iloilo Sports Complex. On March 2, Robredo campaigned in Manila, which was followed by a sortie in Cavite on March 4.
On March 20, Robredo's campaign held a rally at Ortigas Center in Pasig, dubbed the "PasigLaban grand rally", which became her largest rally at that point. Organizers estimated that 180,000 attended, although the local police countered this with its own estimate placed at 137,000. This hitherto record turnout was later surpassed by the April 9 rally dubbed as "Manalakáran: Pampanga People's Rally" in San Fernando, which drew about 220,000. Regional police officials at first denied the organizers' estimate, saying that the venue could only accommodate 70,000 people; later, however, regional police director Matthew Baccay clarified that their 70,000 figure was for security planning purposes only and not meant to indicate audience size.
On April 23, Robredo celebrated her 57th birthday at a rally, labeled as a street party by media outlets, along Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay. According to the organizers, they estimated the crowd to have been of 412,000 people, making it the campaign's largest rally at this point. The National Capital Region Police Office contested the estimate, however, stating that only around 70,000 to 80,000 people attended.
Finally, Robredo held her miting de avance in Makati, which drew 780,000 people, making it the campaign's biggest rally, surging ahead of the Pasay rally's crowd of 412,000.
Polling
Opinion polls conducted before the filing of candidacies showed Robredo garnering about 5 to 10 percentage points of voting intentions. Her numbers significantly improved by late 2021, after the filing of candidacies. A survey conducted by Pulse Asia on December 1–6 showed Robredo polling ahead of other presidential candidates but behind Bongbong Marcos, garnering 20 percent, 12 percentage points more than the pollster's previous survey conducted during the pre-filing period, specifically from September 6–11. Surveys conducted by OCTA Research and Publicus Asia during the same period showed Robredo polling 14 and 20.2 percent respectively.
In early 2022, Robredo consistently ranked second behind frontrunner Marcos, garnering about 15 to 20 percent of voting intentions. After the CNN presidential debate and the first PiliPinas Debates 2022, Robredo's numbers rose. A poll conducted by Pulse Asia on March 17–21 showed Robredo polling at 24 percentage points, nine points more than in the pollster's previous survey conducted at the start of the campaign period (February 18–23). This was corroborated by the Publicus Asia poll conducted on March 30 – April 6, with Robredo garnering 23 percentage points. Another poll by Laylo conducted on the same period showed Robredo at 19 percentage points.
Senatorial slate
Robredo and Pangilinan endorsed the following candidates for the 2022 Philippine Senate election, thus forming the tandem's "senatorial slate" referred to as "Team Robredo–Pangilinan":
- Former representative Teddy Baguilat (Liberal)
- Senator Leila de Lima (Liberal)
- Lawyer Chel Diokno (Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino)
- Senator Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan)
- Lawyer Alex Lacson (Ang Kapatiran)
- Lawyer Sonny Matula (Independent)
- Former senator Antonio Trillanes (Liberal)
- Guest candidates:
- Former vice president Jejomar Binay (UNA)
- Sorsogon governor Francis Escudero (NPC)
- Senator Dick Gordon (Bagumbayan–VNP)
- Senator Joel Villanueva (Independent)
Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri was initially included in the senatorial slate as a guest candidate. However, Zubiri later endorsed the presidential campaign of Bongbong Marcos, contrary to an agreement made with all guest candidates not to openly endorse a presidential candidate. Prompted by calls from their supporters to remove him from the slate, campaign spokesperson Barry Gutierrez confirmed on April 27, 2022, that Zubiri was no longer part of their slate, continuing their campaign with only 11 senatorial candidates fielded.
Endorsements
After her bid was announced, Robredo received support from Filipino netizens in various social media platforms; the hashtags #LetLeniLead and #LabanLeni2022 trended on social media. Various personalities publicly expressed their support for Robredo. She also received endorsements from several politicians, particularly those aligned with the opposition.