Vice President Leni Robredo checks out a resettlement area in Tondo, Manila on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. (Photo by NIKKO DIZON/Philippine Daiily Inquirer)
Despite her declining trust rating in recent surveys, Vice President Leni Robredo would would continue to be a critical voice in government.
“I believe that there are times in the life of a public official that you need to do things that are unpopular,” Robredo, speaking in Filipino, told reporters who were covering her visit on Thursday to the Helping Land Community in Barangay 105 in Tondo, Manila.
“I think our vocal criticism against extrajudicial killings, the death penalty, are worth gambling [our popularity on] rather than I don’t speak up only because we don’t want our popularity to be affected,” she said.
Robredo added she was aware that anything she would say that would be critical of a very popular president like Rodrigo Duterte could backfire on her own popularity.
“But it does not mean that I should not be saying these concerns because I think it is my obligation to express my opinions on issues, whether it is in favor or not of our President,” she said.
For example, Robredo did not agree with the threat that Duterte made against the local government officials allegedly on his narcolist.
The President, at his usual cursing self, met the mayors in batches. He was jovial with some of the local chief executives. But there were some mayors whom he reportedly threatened because he believed the had been engaging in narcopolitics and corruption.
Asked for comment on the reports about the President’s meeting, Robredo said that talking with the mayors was a good move to ask for their support in the administration’s war on drugs.
“But to threaten them that they would be killed, I think whoever says that, especially if someone is the President, is not right,” Robredo said, adding it was not the right way to start the new year.
“We follow the rule of law,” she said. “If you threaten someone with death, what message are you sending?”
Robredo also expressed solidarity with the Filipinos who said in a recent survey that there was no need for martial law “to solve the many crises of the nation.”
“We fought against the Marcos dictatorship to restore our democracy,” she said. “We remain committed to defending our freedom and rights as Filipinos, at the same time ensuring that our hard won democracy serves the best interest of our people, especially the poor and marginalized. We urge the public to remain vigilant. May the results of the survey serve as a clear signal to the administration that the Filipino people will not tolerate the revival of martial law.” /ATM