CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 21 March) — The RoSa (Robredo – Sara) movement was launched here Monday, in a bid to make the country’s top executive positions run by “women power,” organizers said.

RoSa stands for Robredo-Sara, or Vice President Leni Robredo and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who are gunning for president and vice president, respectively.

Organizers of the RoSa movement, spearheaded by Representatives Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro second district) and Joey Salceda (Albay second district) and Zamboanga City Mayor  Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco-Salazar, basically ditched the duo’s running mates.

Robredo is running as an independent candidate and her running mate is Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan while Duterte is the running mate of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., standard bearer of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.

Organizers of the RoSa movement appeared unfazed by the possibility that Robredo would be destabilized  by Duterte and her allies once the former is elected. 

“Our Constitution has set the grounds for impeaching a President and it is not easy to oust a sitting president,” Rodriguez said. 

Salceda said Duterte would “unlikely lead a plot” to oust Robredo because she could have been “a shoe-in for the presidency if she opted to run for such post given that her father is the incumbent president.” 

“It is not her nature. She could have been the front runner if she had decided to run,” Salceda said. 

For her part, Climaco said she “trust them being women, Robredo and Duterte could work together as a team.” 

Salceda, Rodriguez and Climaco held a press conference here Monday to launch the RoSa movement that seeks votes and support for Robredo and Duterte. 

Rodriguez said he had informed Marcos, the son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator, of their decision to support Robredo and not him. 

“He was not hurt by our decision,” Rodriguez said. 

Salceda said he did not feel any guilt since he never supported Marcos in the  first place

Climaco said she vouched for Robredo since the former knew the latter since during their days in the 16th Congress of the House of Representatives (2013 to 2016). 

A rally to support the RoSa tandem was held in the same area where Robredo held hers in Divisoria, Cagayan de Oro last month. 

But the crowd of supporters failed to match that of Robredo’s rally, which gathered an estimated  10,000 people.

The crowd at the RoSa rally was estimated at over a thousand supporters. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)