FORMER Solicitor General Florin Hilbay on Monday left Aksyon Demokratiko led by Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso to support the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo.

Hilbay said he resigned “not to join another party but out of ethical considerations.”

“I respect the decision of my party to choose Mayor Isko Moreno as candidate for president, but also believe VP Leni is a much better candidate in this most crucial of elections,” Hilbay said in a statement.

“Because I intend, as an ordinary citizen, to publicly support her campaign, I must resign from the only political party I have ever joined,” he added.

Hilbay pointed out that the country needs a president who will “confront problems not with publicity stunts to manipulate Filipinos but with honest-to-goodness attempts at solutions.”

“We tackle issues of immense importance at local and global levels — poverty-inducing systemic inequality, massive debt, corruption, the destruction of institutions, accountability for EJKs, Chinese interference, climate change, a broken financial system, imperiled mass media, fake news, surveillance capitalism, impending war,” he stressed.

The lawyer argued that the country does not need “more of the same, or even less of the same.”

“We can’t afford another narcissistic, gaslighting troll for a president. A candidate who wakes up only during campaigns is no leader, and we can’t have another absentee president,” Hilbay said.

“We need a president who will show up, level with the people, and treat them not as objects to be subjugated but as fellow citizens and stakeholders in nation-building. We need a leader who will empower Filipinos, not kill them,” he added.

Hilbay was a member of Aksyon Demokratiko when he ran for a senatorial seat under the “Otso Diretso” slate in the 2019 elections. He placed 29th after garnering over 2.7 million votes.

Meanwhile, the political party said it is gaining more support from the people.

“While Aksyon may have lost a good member in the former solicitor-general, we gained thousands of members that will contest the 2022 elections belonging to different and bigger political parties,” Ernest Ramel, Aksyon Demokratiko secretary general, said.

“In fact, we continue to get more queries and applications from other candidates even after the filing of certificate of candidacies had lapsed,” Ramel added.