Moments after presidential candidate Ping Lacson tendered his resignation for Partido Reporma and announced his plans to run as an independent presidential candidate, the party’s leader Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez said that they will be supporting Vice President Leni Robredo.
“Our ground leaders have expressed their wish to participate in that brave calling. And that is why a hard choice must be made. With a heavy heart, many members of Partido Reporma are constrained to consider a candidate other than their first choice,” Alvarez said in a statement.
“We reasonably believe that the only realistic option at this point, with roughly a month and a half left is to converge with Leni Robredo’s campaign,” he added.
Alvarez said that while Lacson is the best and the most qualified to be the next president, realities on the ground say otherwise.
“Time and context framed the narrative of 2022 in a way that gave traction, rightly or wrongly, to other candidates instead. This is a difficult fact which takes courage to admit,” he said.
Alvarez was a longtime ally of President Rodrigo Duterte. He is also a staunch political rival of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
He defeated the candidates endorsed by the president’s daughter in Davao region in the 2019 elections.
