Vice President Leni Robredo at Plaza Noli in Sampaloc, Manila, on Wednesday, March 2, 2022. She was there to celebrate Women’s Month with a crowd of more than 3,000 Manileños – women, youth, LGBTQIA+, and other sectors. The groups also declared their support for her presidential bid. (VP LENI MEDIA BUREAU)
MANILA, Philippines — “Does that mean you were impressed?”
That’s how Vice President Leni Robredo, who is running for president, clapped back at critics on Facebook who claimed she had given questions in advance for the CNN Philippines “Presidential Debate.”
[Original statement: “Gusto bang sabihin, nagalingan kayo?”]
“To those saying that I received advance questions for the debate: Thank you, even though it’s not true,” she said in her post written in Filipino.
In the CNN Philippines debate last Sunday, only former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was absent, and the other nine candidates were present.
The network gave no questions in advance.
Not a ‘PR stunt’
Robredo also hit back at those who claimed a photo showing her barefoot with her shoes in her hand was a “PR stunt.”
She posted on Facebook a photo of her back in 2016 showing her barefoot, though she was wearing a yellow business-like dress.
The photo, she said, was taken in Naga City after the elections. It was on the birthday of her late husband, former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.
In her post, she said in Filipino: “That’s not the first time. Even when there are no elections, I do that whenever my feet hurt. This is a receipt. This is in 2016. The elections were over.”
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