Robredo includes Duterte in her prayers to Bicol patroness

Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JAM STA. ROSA

NAGA CITY – Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday said she was including President Duterte in her personal petition to Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the patroness of Bicol whose feast is being celebrated this month in Naga City.

“Of course, I will be praying for the peace of my late husband, my daughters, for their safety, health, and protection and I will always be praying for the president since it’s him that we rely on when it comes to the country’s decisions,” she said.

She added that President Duterte’s “failures are our failures too.”

Robredo is home in Naga City for the feast of the Bicol patroness, which the locals call “Ina” (mother).

The Peñafrancia festivities started with the Traslacion procession or the transfer of the image of the patroness from the Peñafrancia Shrine to the Metropolitan Cathedral by “voyadores” (male devotees) on Friday. The Peñafrancia Festival ends with a fluvial procession where Ina is carried back to its official home Peñafrancia Basilica through the Naga River on Sept. 14.

“I pray for him not just during this feast but every day. That he will always be guided in bringing betterment to our country,” Robredo told local newsmen here.

Robredo also said her biggest prayer now is for the welfare of Filipino people who are suffering the effects of the 6.4 percent inflation rate.

“My biggest prayer would be for the Philippines … that this suffering ends,” she said.