Leni Robredo faces 4 opponents for mayoral post in Naga City

HOMETOWN BET Former Vice President Leni Robredo holds up her certificate of candidacy she filed for mayor in her hometown, Naga City, on Oct. 5 at the Commission on Elections with her legal counsel, Romulo Macalintal. —Jarvis Ivan Sadiua

NAGA CITY, CAMARINES SUR, Philippines — 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 (COCs) 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.

READ: Ex-VP Robredo officially announces mayoral run in Naga, unveils slate

Last-minute filers

Ortega vowed to resolve long-standing issues in the city, particularly traffic congestion and parking management, should he win.

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 a 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.”

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. —with a report from Rey Anthony Ostria