Give Robredo a chance, bishop urges Duterte

A CATHOLIC bishop called on President-elect Rodrigo Duterte Friday to give Vice President-elect Leni Robredo a chance to prove her worth, saying the latter deserved to be in the Cabinet.

“Our first acts toward a person should be about respect, openness and giving that person the chance to exercise her talents and powers,” Caceres Archbishop Rolando Tirona said in a press briefing.

“What is important is to recognize that she is important to the country, and therefore, there be a chance to transcend political lines and to give that person the capacity to work for the good of the people,” the prelate said.

Duterte has said he was not inclined to give Robredo a Cabinet post in deference to his “friend” Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who has accused the vice president-elect and the outgoing Aquino administration of conniving to cheat him.

Robredo has shrugged the statement, and instead vowed to do her best for the people who had voted her.

She has of late taken time off with her children before she begins her job at the end of the month. On Friday, she and her family flew to Singapore, just days after they were also spotted vacationing in central Bohol island.

Airport sources who refused to be identified for lack of authority to speak on the matter said Robredo and her children, Jessica Marie, Janine Patricia, and Jillian Therese boarded a Jetstar flight—with flight number 3K 762—to Singapore at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 at 11:30 a.m.

The sources said Robredo also booked a China Airlines flight to Taipei, Taiwan, but it was unclear who boarded that plane.

The Robredos slipped out quietly, and did not request for assistance from airport personnel. Once in the airport, though, some on-duty personnel recognized the incoming vice president, prompting them to call for an escort for her group nonetheless. Tina G. Santos and Kristine Felisse Mangunay