Robredo says it's final: 'I'm not running for any nat'l post'

NAGA CITY – There will be no more running for any position in the national government for Naga City Mayor Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, as the former Vice President again shut down talk of her joining the presidential race in 2028.

Robredo, at a press conference at the Naga City Hall after the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, 9 November, said she decided to no longer pursue any national post in the future even before she ran for mayor of Naga City and won in 2025.

“There isn’t anything that could change that [my decision],” she said, adding that she did not run for city mayor just to use the position as a “stepping stone” or to “just have something to do” as she waits for the 2028 polls.

She said she made up her mind last year that she is not leaving Naga City again, even if she decides not to seek for reelection in the next mayoral race.

“I reached that decision after a lot of self-assessment. I saw a lot of limitations in myself [that would discourage me] to take on a national post and I am very honest about it. Maybe I can do the job [properly] but I think I might not have enough of the political savviness so I could traverse the national politics. That, I think, is something I won’t be capable for,” she said.

Many of her supporters had tried to convince her to run for president again but she clarified that Transportation Secretary Vivencio "Vince" Dizon is not one of them, she said, alluding to speculations that the former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary’s recent surprise visit to her was to discuss her future political move.

She insisted that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is also not encouraging her to run in the 2028 presidential race.

“We never talk about 2028. He [President Marcos] visited here because we became a site for Oplan Kontra Baha,” she said.

Oplan Kontra Baha is a nationwide flood-mitigation and waterways cleanup program launched by Marcos and spearheaded by the DPWH and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Robredo thanked her supporters for still believing in her but she said that door “is already closed.”

Marcos and Robredo faced each other in the presidential race in 2022. Marcos defeated Robredo by landslide.