MANILA, Philippines – Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has conceded the vice presidential race to Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo and called on other candidates to "respect the people's will."
"I humbly concede my vice presidential bid to Rep Leni Robredo, who, by all accounts and with 96% of the votes already tallied, is our country's presumptive Vice President-elect," said Cayetano in a press release sent to media on Thursday, May 12.
He then called for healing and unification, echoing the post-election message of his standard-bearer and now presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte.
"While losing an election hurts, nothing is more painful than the sight of a divided country. Thus, I call on all the other candidates to respect the people's will and rally behind presumptive President-elect Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte and his presumptive Vice President-elect Leni Robredo," he said.
Could it be a message to Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr who continues to contest the lead Robredo has gained over him in the partial election results? (READ: Marcos camp insinuates cheating as Robredo grabs lead)
The Robredo camp had denied the allegation, and urged the Marcos team to just wait for the final election results. (READ: Robredo camp to Marcos: Stop the 'mind conditioning')
Though the results are not yet final, Cayetano believes Robredo has clearly emerged victorious.
"Rep Leni is not only leading the race, she has clearly won it," said the senator from Taguig.
Cayetano said he puts his trust on Robredo to support Duterte's agenda for the country.
"I am confident that Vice President-elect Leni will likewise respect and value the people's will by giving her full support to the country's new President and his vision to end the disorder in the people's lives and introduce real change to our country," he added.
As of 10:56 am on Thursday, with 95.73% of precincts reporting, Cayetano was still in 3rd place with 5.66 million votes. Robredo kept her lead, however slim, at 13.97 million votes compared to Marcos' 13.76 million. – Rappler.com