Ex-senator Antonio Trillanes IV announces bid to run for president and is seeking the nomination of the 1Sambayan opposition coalition. But Trillanes says he will give way to VP Leni Robredo should she run for president in 2022 instead of gunning for a local post.

According to the former Senator, “In view of VP Leni’s preparations to run for Governor of Camarines Sur in 2022, I, together with the Magdalo group, have decided to convey to the 1SAMBAYAN Coalition to change my status from being an alternate candidate (to VP Leni) to being a principal candidate for President to vie for the Coalition’s nomination. This move is necessary for my name to be included in 1SAMBAYAN’s selection process.”

“As I often stressed, the 2022 elections would be the most important elections in our nation’s history after 1986. Not only our Democracy is at stake, our very survival as a country is at stake, too. In just 5 years, Duterte has been able to destroy our institutions, bankrupted the economy, worsened poverty and corruption, surrendered our interests in the WPS, and promoted incompetence in public service. Worst of all, he made our people accept killings, immorality, indecency and vulgarity as the new societal norm. Truly, we WILL NOT survive another 6 years of a Duterte rule,” he added.