Robredo to run for Naga City mayor, De Lima as lead nominee of LP party-list for 2025 elections
Former vice president Leni Robredo will vie for Naga City's mayoral post, while former senator Leila De Lima will be the lead nominee of the Mamamayang Liberal party list in the upcoming 2025 elections.
Erin Tañada, the executive vice president of the Liberal Party (LP), confirmed that Robredo will run for mayor of Naga on Friday, Sept. 20.
The announcement came a few months after LP president and Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman bared Robredo’s plan to take part in the mayoral race in her hometown.
“Ang last namin na pag-uusap ay siya ay tatakbo as mayor ng Naga City upang pagpatuloy ang program ng kanyang late husband (Jesse Robredo)," Lagman told reporters in June.
Robredo ran for the presidential post in 2022 after serving as the country's vice president from 2016 to 2022. After losing to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in the campaign, she went on to establish a non-government organization, Angat Buhay, to continue what they started during the election season and help Filipino communities in need.
Kiko Pangilinan, Robredo's running mate during the 2022 elections, will run for a Senate seat in the upcoming elections. He previously teased his candidacy with a Friends-inspired promotional video, alongside Atty. Chel Diokno, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, and Bam Aquino, who were all part of Robredo’s “Tropang Angat” Senate slate in 2022.
De Lima, meanwhile, will be the lead nominee for the LP’s sectoral party list, Mamamayang Liberal. Her co-nominees include former representatives Teddy Baguilat and Erin Tañada.
“Walang atrasan. Tuloy na tuloy na ang laban!” she wrote in a Facebook post.
De Lima was recently released and cleared of all drug charges filed against her in 2017 during the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte. She served five years of her six-year term as senator in police detention. She lost her bid for re-election in May 2022 after campaigning from behind bars.
The mid-term elections for next year will begin on Jan. 12 and end on June 11. The campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups will run from Feb. 11 to May 10.