Robredo thanks Duterte for Cabinet offer

The camp of leading vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo on Friday thanked presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte for saying he would give the former Camarines Sur representative a Cabinet post should she win in the hotly contested vice presidential race.

Georgina Hernandez, Robredo’s spokesperson, extended the representative’s gratitude to the incoming president for the offer, despite the fact that she ran under the rival Liberal Party (LP).

Robredo had said she was open to any cabinet position should she win the elections against Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

The race between Robredo and Marcos, however, is still too close to call. As of 3 p.m. Friday, the partial and unofficial count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting showed Robredo ahead of the son and namesake of the dictator by only 225,266 votes with 95.95 percent of the votes already counted.

More than a million votes have yet to be accounted for.

While the election count continues, Hernandez said Robredo and her daughters would be taking time off this weekend to rest from the grueling eight-month campaign.

“Like many of us, we are hoping that the counting of the votes will be finished in the soonest possible time. She (Robredo) remains confident that everyone would respect the results of the elections,” Hernandez said.

The camp of Marcos has questioned some procedures of the Comelec and warned of possible cheating by the administration party.

The LP is closely watching the vice presidential count and the impact it would have on party membership.

LP leader and Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said it was “premature” to say that there would be mass defection from the LP to the PDP-Laban, the political party of Duterte.

“We still have to consider the vice presidential race. That is an important event, especially for the LP. If the vice president comes from our party…”

PDP-Laban party leader Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel earlier said their party was expecting an influx of new members with Duterte taking over Malacañang.

“In Philippine politics, the administration coming in is definitely going to be the center of the political arena, with the politicians tending to gather around it,” Abad said. With a report by Nikko Dizon

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