Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday she was in exploratory talks with Sen. Manny Pacquiao to come up with the "broadest possible unity" for the 2022 elections.
Robredo said she met with Pacquiao twice, with the most recent one just before he left for the U.S. for his boxing match with Errol Spence Jr. They also agreed to talk again after his fight.
"Pinag-uusapan pa lang namin yung mga pakiramdam namin about elections at ano ba yung stand namin about this. Mga ganun lang naman muna yung tinatanong ko," she told CNN Philippines.
"Wala pang pinag-uusapan kung sino ang susuportahan. Ang tinitignan ko lang muna, 'Would you be willing to sit down and talk further?' Yung mga ganun," she added.
Pacquiao was among those reportedly running for president in the 2022 polls, although he has yet to formally announce his electoral bid. He was recently removed as acting president of PDP-Laban, President Rodrigo Duterte's party, after a much publicized word war with the incumbent.
Robredo said she was exerting all efforts to reach out and talk to almost all contenders in the 2022 elections as she believes there is a need to "broaden the base."
"Totoong marami kaming differences pero the reason why the exploratory talks are happening is because we want to see if we would have common grounds that we could agree on," she said.
Although she declined Sen. Panfilo Lacson's "unification formula," Robredo said it doesn't mean that they couldn't agree on other proposals.
"Ang paniniwala ko sa negotiations, it's a continuing thing until makahanap kami ng common ground," she said.
"We should really give unity a chance because too much is at stake. Kailangan maging bukas tayo, makipagkaisa sa mga taong maaaring iba ang pinanggalingan pero ang gusto rin pagbabago sa bayan," she added.
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