Vice President Leni Robredo is now part of President Duterte’s executive family.
After two cordial meetings, ties between the two officials warmed up enough for Mr. Duterte to reconsider his decision to shut Robredo out of the Cabinet and offered her to head the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
This is the same agency handled by two previous Vice Presidents—Jejomar Binay and Noli de Castro.
Mr. Duterte offered the position to Robredo in a phone call on Thursday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said at a press briefing.
“We did not hear the answer of the Vice President, but from the face of the President, we could say that the Vice President accepted the offer,” Aguirre said.
Robredo was asked to report to the first Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Minutes after the announcement, Robredo thanked the President for appointing her as HUDCC chair.
Robredo said housing programs were among the life-long advocacies of her late husband, former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a multiterm mayor of Naga City.
“We can serve our homeless countrymen better and continue our promise to push for progress and welfare of our marginalized citizens,” she said. “We can finally fulfill this promise and benefit those on the fringes of society with the help of everybody.”
Last night, PTV 4 aired a footage of Mr. Duterte calling up Robredo to offer her the Cabinet post.
He addressed her as “Ma’am Leni” and “ma’am” and told her he also had wanted to put a stop to constant questions on whether she would be given a position in the Cabinet.
“Do not be apologetic ma’am, but I want to… they keep on asking and asking,” he told Robredo.
“Pwede ka housing, ma’am? Can you be the housing secretary? Tanggapin mo ma’am (Will you accept it, ma’am)? ” he further asked.
The President also told her that Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea would hand her the appointment papers and asked her to attend the next Cabinet meeting.
Members of the Cabinet are pleased with Robredo’s entry into their ranks, according to Aguirre.
Mr. Duterte earlier said he would not offer Robredo a Cabinet post because he did not want to risk hurting the feelings of his friend, defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Marcos has a pending electoral protest against Robredo’s narrow victory over him.
Aguirre surmised that the President reconsidered his position after meeting Robredo.
“I could only speculate but from the media, from the reports during the past two meetings between the two of them, I believe there was some sort of warming up between the two,” he said.
As for Marcos’ feelings, Aguirre said the President might have reconsidered his position after the passage of some time.
“So here we are. I think this is very good for the country,” he added.
