Robredo, Bautista deny supposed secret meeting

No secret meeting happened between Vice President Leonor “Leni” Robredo and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista.

Both Robredo and Bautista called “malicious” a video of their alleged secret meeting to discuss the election protest of defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. They said they were both invited to a party attended by at least 30 guests.

The video, uploaded on a Facebook page “Dayaang Matuwid,” showed Robredo and Bautista separately arriving at a condominium unit reportedly owned by socialite Baby Cruz at the Urdaneta Apartments in Makati Tuesday night.

“I attended a dinner party with maybe 40 guests. Comelec Chairman Bautista was there but I can’t remember discussing things with him. We just greeted each other but we did not talk,” Robredo said in a press briefing at the Quezon City Reception House on Thursday.

If it were true, Robredo said the video should have shown the actual meeting.

“Very malicious,” she added.

On the other hand, Bautista said: “It was a social gathering. The members of the diplomatic corps were there. We didn’t talk about politics… Nakapag-hi hello lang ako kay VP (VP and I just exchanged greetings.).”

“The secret meeting is not true. Maraming testigo (There are a lot of witnesses),” he said in an interview over DZBB radio.

Other guests present in the said event were Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and United States Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg.

The Vice President’s daughters Aika, Tricia and Jillian were also at the party./rga

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