At the centre of all the chatter surrounding the ascent of Leni Robredo to the office of the Vice President of the Philippines lies the question: What will be her role in the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte?
The future does not look too bright for the presumptive “vice president”. Putting aside the allegations of electoral fraud and the non-compliance of the Liberal Party to Commission on Election (COMELEC) rules around the submission of the party Statement of Contributions and Expenditure (SOCE) that cloud the office of the Vice President, there is little Robredo has to offer that would be of interest to Duterte. Robredo, by her own doing, has pretty much locked herself outside of the soon-to-be-President’s circle of trust.
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During the campaign, Robredo had all but shot herself on the foot by by issuing evidently ill-thought-out statements that run counter to Duterte’s envisioned approach to straightening out the Philippines. Duterte, if we recall, rose to power on the back of a promise to apply more, shall we say, iron-fisted means to crack down hard on rampant criminality in the country. To that, Robredo has reportedly vowed to “lead the fight against [Duterte]” on that front. She goes further to assert…
“For me, it’s going to be a huge challenge [to work with Duterte],” she admitted in an interview at the tomb of her late husband, former interior secretary Jesse Robredo, where she paid her respects before voting.
“As a general rule, I think the vice president should be supportive of the President in spite of party differences. It’s your obligation to the people to work together. But there are some things that can’t be compromised. [Human rights] is one of those,” Robredo said.
To be fair, where exactly “human rights” begin and where that hard crack down ends is a point of contention in Duterte’s vision. Police, after all, require justification to shoot and kill criminals under Philipine law. However, it is also difficult to justify allowing an official who had categorically expressed an intent to lead a fight “against” you into your team, specially on an initiative that had been the cornerstone of your campaign.
Indeed, Robredo even cited her hometown in Naga City, Bicol where, she reportedly pointed out, local government there “were able to achieve the same results without resorting to those things”, to which Duterte responded by assuring her that his government would not interfere with Naga City’s affairs. According to Duterte…
“I do not also subscribe the style of her leadership. Tabla lang kami — she does not like me, I do not like her, so no problem,” Duterte told reporters in Davao City.
Robredo is also, lest we forget, a member of the Liberal Party (LP), the out-going ruling party presided over by out-going President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III. She ran under the LP banner in partnership with its presidential candidate Mar Roxas. The LP had, over the course of the campaign, sustained a vicious attack on the persons of all candidates running against its fielded bets. In the heat of the campaign, Aquino himself called for a united front against Duterte. Aquino also referred to Duterte as “a future threat to democracy”. Roxas, for his part, mounted an agressive campaign to follow-through on that messaging and, in the final stretch to election day, attempted to forge a last-ditch “unity” alliance with another rival candidate, Senator Grace Poe, presumably to combine their respective voters’ base in the hope of beating Duterte who was, by then leading the polls.
Roxas reportedly described that call for unity as “a call for decency”, as if implying that Duterte’s government would be one that would be lacking in that decency. Roxas clearly harboured an intent to emotionally blackmail Poe into bowing out of the race under the assumption that her votes would go to him…
In his statement made during a hastily called meeting with the press at his campaign headquarters, Roxas said that what is more important now is the future of the country than the political careers of any candidate.
“Uncertainty and the specter of a dictatorship are looming over our country once again,” he said. “I call for unity, I call for decency, I call for democracy, I call for the rule of law.”
So desperate was this project to win the election that President BS Aquino himself issued a statement in support of it framing the effort as “a demonstration of country before self”, essentially saying that Duterte’s presidency would be the death of Philippines. Indeed, Aquino even insisted that the prospect of a Duterte presidency “carried similar dangers to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.”
Leni Robredo was, of course, a party to this vicious vilification campaign. She ran under the LP banner, took to the campaign trail with Roxas and Aquino, wore the LP’s yellow colours, and sang from the same Daang Matuwid hymn book. Perhaps someone should ask Robredo what her position is today on that vilification campaign mounted by her party against Duterte.
It would be wise for Robredo’s handlers to caution her against even thinking of backpedalling from those statements of her party mates or distancing herself from the LP itself. Doing so would be a clear sign that all of what she said under the LP banner and while wearing those yellow shirts during the campaign were all lies.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Public service used to be the highest of callings, until people like the Yellow horde including so-called “VP” Leni Robredo vilified it.
Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.
I believe the VP can also hold a Secretary appointment.If this is true,would it not be an astute move to appoint LR to DILG DOTC or DOJ?
My thinking is either she would be effective in the role -a win for the country – or a waste of space, in which case she would be exposed as a typical incompetent necro-politician.
There is probably a flaw in my devious mind,but it is no more outlandish than many suggestions made in comments on this blog.
Looking at her now pretending to be kind and humble is sickening. What’s even more sickening are the comments from people who actually fell for her act. Oh wow madam VP is so gracious and humble! Yuck!
After all the mudslinging she and her party did to Duterte, she now acts like this patient saint who’s offering her full selfless service to a stubborn man. LP and their yellow zombies act as if saint Robredo is being bullied by Duterte for not giving her a cabinet position. As if her intentions had been pure from the very beginning. As if Duterte is an idiotic jerk for not letting her in his inner circle.
I wish this pretentious woman gets exposed soon
only a citizen’s people power can make a change. no armed forces can beat a people power. people power can end the yellows fight for hacienda luisita which is the cause of all miserable things happened in the country. the worse they can even make a citizen arrest for all yellows known. i hope it’s not going to be a bloody one like the bolshevik revolt. people power is the LAW.
We have again a Clueless Woman, eyeing for the Presidency…she was proclaimed amidst, a lot of electoral fraud. She deserves, not to be in that Office of Vice President.
What is Roxas and Aquino talking about Democracy. It was Kleptocracy (massive thievery and scam), that they governed the country.
We need a thorough investigation of the electoral fraud, committed by : Aquino, Leni Rob redo, Mar Roxas, COMELEC Bautista, the SMARTMATIC, etc…
Leni Rob redo should vacant her position. She is a false Vice President…she is just a tool of the Aquino/Cojuangco scam alliance…
The entire platform of LP and its supporters stank to high heavens with hypocrisy. They are the exact opposite of the supposed virtues they championed. And Leni is part of all that. The moment she said yes to LP she sold her soul to the devil.
the next season should turned hacienda luisita to this.. ‘St. Paddy’s Day’ instead of ‘sugar is sweet’
Not to mention the demonization of Grace Poe for not bowing down to Roxas’ wishes. What a group of scumbags.
It is imperative that Leni “Robber” Redo is now using the Cory Aquino syndrome that she is a victim of the haughtiness of Duterte making her an outsider in his political family. All she can do now is whine and enjoy her stolen position until that Abnoy humanoid Bautista vacated the COMELEC. The trouble with her is that she is pretending to be holier than thou but underneath her so-called infallibility is a Pandora’s Box of lies and deceit.
Scenario: Impeach Duterte. Leni will resign from the VP post for health reasons. Mar will assume presidency. Happy days are here again – LP.
How will Mar assume the presidency? By just going to Malacanan? hahaha!
What I still don’t get is why we cling to the election of the President and Vice President as a separate ticket. The Vice President is supposed to be the next-in-line in case something happens to the President. This position is like the Hand of the King, an advisor who works hand-in-hand with the King.
I don’t give two fucks about Marcos and Robredo. By accounts, Cayetano would have been a better VP because he ran under Duterte’s ticket and they both worked out the policies they intended to implement.
Why not put all her (vp robredo) efforts while she is still vp on finding what really happened to her late husband former dilg secretary jessie robredo..
That’ll a really good goal for her considering the fact that her husband’s death still has a mystery on it..