Leni faces 4 opponents for mayoral post in Naga City
NAGA CITY — Former Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo found herself facing four opponents in the mayoral race in Naga City at the end of the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) on Tuesday for the 2025 midterm elections.
Shortly after Robredo and her slate filed their COCs on Oct. 5, 87-year-old Luis Ortega, a resident of Barangay San Felipe, also filed his COC as an independent candidate positioning himself as an “alternative” to Robredo.
Ortega, who came alone at the city’s elections office, told the Inquirer that he had worked as a city hall employee under Robredo’s late husband, the late former mayor and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.
He vowed to resolve long-standing issues in the city, particularly traffic congestion and parking management, should he win.
From Pandan to Naga
On Monday morning, former radioman and mayor of Pandan town Catanduanes Restituto de Quiros filed his COC as an independent candidate.
De Quiros, who also served as member of the board of directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (2001 to 2004), said in a private message that he is running for Naga City mayor instead of pursuing elective posts in Catanduanes, to serve in the place where he “was born and raised.”
Last minute filers
At the last hours before the end of the filing of COCs at 5 p.m. Tuesday, two names appeared on the list of aspirants for mayor of Naga City: Leonida Abrazado and Diego Coner Sr. Information on the two candidates was not immediately available.
Robredo’s late husband Jesse was mayor of Naga City from 1988 to 1998, and then again from 2001 to 2010. He was the Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary from 2010 until his death in a plane crash in the waters off Masbate City in 2012.
Robredo and her slate, dubbed “Team Naga,” will be running under the Liberal Party. Her running mate is outgoing Camarines Sur third district Rep. Gabriel Bordado.
Bordado was the city’s vice mayor—first under Jesse (2003 to 2010) and then under John Bongat (2010 to 2013).
Robredo, who is a lawyer, served as Camarines Sur third district representative from 2013 to 2016 before becoming the country’s vice president (2016 to 2022).
In 2022, Robredo ran for the presidency but lost to now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. WITH A REPORT FROM REY ANTHONY OSTRIA
