Leni’s VP bid bares Mar’s weakness

In announcing his running mate in the 2016 presidential elections, Mar Roxas introduced Leni Robredo as the pambato of the Liberal Party. 

The use of the term pambato betrays the desperation of Roxas and his party for a formula to credibly bag the 2016 polls. Pambato means “frontliner.” It also refers to the person who leads the charge – the standard-bearer, so to speak.

By calling Robredo pambato, Roxas – or whoever in the Edwin Lacierda team drafted that speech – may have acknowledged the LP presidential bet is not the flag bearer in the 2016 political contest. That role has been relinquished to Robredo because, they believe, she alone can generate the public affection which Roxas, the supposed-to-be

pambato, is having much difficulty being.

There appears to be no other option but to have Robredo run alongside Roxas as the vice-presidential bet. The LP probably believes Robredo is the “game changer,” the role that the McCain camp had apparently hoped Sarah Palin would fulfill in the US elections of 2008.

That assumption is dangerous. Too much expectation may have been placed on Rob redo’s vice-presidential bid.

A major daily reported over a week ago that a survey conducted last September showed that Robredo was at the tail end of the vice-presidential race.

According to the report, she registered a measly 7-percent preference rating. She was behind Sen. Sonny Trillanes by two points. At the head of that race is Sen. Francis Escudero, with 43 percent. Nineteen percent of the respondents preferred Sen. Bongbong Marcos.

Where does that put a political party whose pambato trails all other aspirants?

Where does that put Roxas who has pegged his hope on Robredo’s imagined ability to help raise his ratings in the surveys?

Political pundits sympathetic to Roxas claim they believe Robredo’s rating would go up as soon as she hits the campaign trail. We share the view. The problem is that Robredo may not have enough time to generate higher preference ratings both for herself and her running mate who depends a lot on her imagined vote-getting power.

One probable reason for such hope could be the designation of Sen. Bam Aquino as campaign manager for Robredo.

Aquino must have been chosen for the job because his wife is in the advertising industry. Given serious time constraints, massive advertising may be the only recourse to help Robredo catch up with her rivals.

The problem with massive advertising is that, at best, it can only help raise public awareness. Awareness does not automatically translate into preference.

Vice-presidential contenders Escudero, Marcos, Cayetano and Trillanes are already way ahead of Robredo when it comes to public awareness. In the months leading up to the May polls, all they have to do is to convert the awareness to preference.

Robredo will have to work hard on creating awareness, and then recall. Only then can she hope to gain preference.

She will be spending the next seven months building the awareness and the preference for herself. We doubt if she would have time to lend to Roxas some of the public affection she would be able to generate.

Aggravating the situation is the fact that Robredo is a reluctant candidate. In that gathering where she was introduced as the LP pambato, Robredo did not display the aura of an ecstatic winner or of an eager candidate.

Instead, she looked worried. She was even seen squirming on her seat as Pnoy likened her to his late mother.

She visibly has no appetite for politics and the charades that go with it. She probably remembered at the moment that the two LP politicians lionizing her were the very same characters who marginalized her late husband when the latter was local governments secretary.

If Robredo had the savvy of Escudero, the name recall of Marcos, or at least the eagerness of Cayetano and Trillanes, a massive advertising campaign would probably help do the catch-up job.

But, Robredo is none of those. She is first and foremost a good person with a good heart. At this point, that could be a disadvantage. She will be constantly wrestling with her conscience, questioning the morality of the political tactics her party will put into action, and wondering whether or not she heard God’s voice right when she said yes to the LP.

We are sure the political and campaign experts of the Roxas camp have analyzed and seen this.

So, was it really a wise decision to make Robredo the running mate of Roxas?

Or is this the better question: Does the LP really have any other choice?