Robredo to Duterte: 200,000 vote margin no small matter

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo disputed President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark on her supposed slim victory during the 2016 Presidential Elections, stressing that a 200,000 vote margin was no small feat.

Robredo on Wednesday initially declined to comment on Duterte’s latest insults against her, but eventually implied that her victory against opponent and former senator Bongbong Marcos was legitimate.

“Ever since, kapag pag-iinsulto ayaw kong sagutin.  Sumasagot lang talaga ako kapag merong facts na sinabi […] pero ‘yong impresyon sa akin, karapatan niya (Duterte) ‘yon, karapatan niyang isipin ‘yon,” she said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

“Siguro sa akin, 200,000 ‘yong margin.  Hindi basta-basta ‘yong 200,000,” a chuckling Robredo added later on.

(Ever since, I do not want to answer insults against me.  I only answer issues when there are facts mentioned […] but his impression of me, that is his right, he is free to think of me that way.)

(For me, a margin of 200,000 is by no means a small feat.)

Duterte described Robredo on Tuesday as a “colossal blunder,” after she released a report on her findings from her 18-day stint at the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

In the report, Robredo said the drug war was a “massive failure,” as the government only managed to collect one percent of the illegal drugs and drug money revolving in the country annually.  Duterte spokesperson Salvador Panelo meanwhile said that the only failure was Robredo’s stint at the ICAD.

Piqued by the Vice President’s remark, Duterte blasted Robredo for talking big while only winning the vice-presidential elections by a small gap.

“I hate to say this but how many voters are there in the Philippines? Just do away with the 200,000 plus she got as a majority over (Bongbong) Marcos. It was really a mistake. With a slim margin and you talk big,” Duterte said.

“For all of these years, she has done nothing. She’s a colossal blunder. Colossal blunder,” he stressed.

Discussions about the results of the 2016 vice presidential race peaked last October 2019, when the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) released the results of its initial recount on the poll protest lodged by Marcos.

Marcos claimed that he was a victim of massive cheating, even though the PET said that Robredo recovered 15,000 votes and Marcos only 5,000 votes in the initial recount.

READ: With no substantial recovery, Marcos now wants recount of other areas–Robredo 

Robredo hopes the PET would finally release its decision, as the case has dragged on for several years.

“Sana final na kasi dapat matagal na naging final, nagkaroon na ng pangalawang bilangan, dumagdag pa ‘yong aking panalo, hindi ko alam kung magkakaroon pa ng ilang bilangan para makumbinse na talagang ako ‘yong nanalo,” Robredo noted.

“Dapat last na mula pa noon, pero tayo naman ay sumusunod, ang nakakalungkot na walang pagtanggap.  Pero ‘yong sa atin we will see how things will evolve, pero ang paniniwala natin dapat sana matagal na itong tapos,” she added.

(I hope the recount is final because it should have been finalized a long time ago, there was a second recount, votes were added to me.  I do not know how many recounts are needed to convince them that I really won.)

(That should have been the last, but we will comply, the only sad thing is that there is no acceptance.  We will see how things will evolve, but our belief is that it should have been finished a long time ago.)