No Cabinet post? Leni says she doesn’t mind

IS FIGHT OVER? Vice President-elect Leni Robredo thanks her peers and supporters after her proclamation on Monday. RICHARD A. REYES

She won’t be upset if she does not get a Cabinet post.

Vice President-elect Leni Robredo on Wednesday said she respected the prerogative of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to choose the people who would make up his official family.

“As President, he has the  power to select the people who can help him run his government,” the outgoing Camarines Sur representative said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Duterte told reporters he did not feel inclined to give a Cabinet position to Robredo, a Liberal Party (LP) member, due to his friendship with her defeated rival, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Whether with a position or not, I will strive to keep the promises I made to our people to the best of my ability,” said the widow of former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

She won by 260,000 votes in the balloting amid allegations of widespread fraud and a determined effort by the outgoing Aquino administration to stop Marcos at all cost.

By tradition, Vice Presidents are given a Cabinet portfolio by the President, but no law mandates this.

 ‘She’s an asset’

As Duterte seeks to consolidate his fledgling political base through Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), he will have to keep the LP—the erstwhile ruling party—in check, and he may be hesitant to give Robredo the opportunity to grow her own political capital.

But outgoing Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., an LP stalwart, said Duterte should look at Robredo “as an asset who can help him succeed in this administration.”

Belmonte told reporters on Tuesday that upon her proclamation, “Leni’s first words were that she wanted to give 100-percent support to President Duterte.”

Belmonte, who is expected to give up the speakership to Duterte’s friend, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, in the 17th Congress, said it was ultimately up to Duterte whether to give Robredo a Cabinet position.

“I think that is something that they better decide between them. If it becomes a partisan question, and it is framed as us Liberals wanting an appointment, I think it’s not a good approach,” he said.

The LP is fast losing members and political clout in the incoming Duterte administration, with a number of its members jumping ship.

Thus, Belmonte has appealed to PDP-Laban for “fair treatment” by allowing LP members to remain with their party and to join the new majority coalition.

Sen. Sonny Angara on Wednesday said Duterte needed not be rushed to appoint Robredo as there remained a lot of vacant positions in the government.

Robredo “has competence and experience,” and Duterte could create a position for her, Angara said.

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, in a television interview, said it would not be good if Duterte would exclude Robredo from his Cabinet just to defer to his feelings about Marcos.

“I would advise him against it, that should not be the reason,” he said.

Osmeña noted that in 1957, then newly elected Vice President Diosdado Macapagal was not given a Cabinet post by President Carlos Garcia, who was from a different party. For the next four years, he said, Macapagal campaigned for the presidency and won in 1961.

Robredo’s fellow LP member, Senate President Franklin Drilon, said it was entirely up to Duterte to choose his alter egos.

“Whom he appoints to his Cabinet is a prerogative and we recognize that,” Drilon told reporters.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, PDP-Laban president, said Duterte was under no obligation to offer a Cabinet position to Robredo.

Pimentel also believes that Duterte’s handpicked men and women would be able to pass through the Commission on Appointments smoothly.

He said Duterte enjoyed “great and wide” popularity, and the goodwill would spill over to his appointees.

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