Robredo to accept Duterte’s dinner invitation

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Notwithstanding the worries of her allies, Vice President Leni Robredo will accept President Duterte’s invitation to dinner, as she sees the gesture as the President “extending a hand” of reconciliation.

“He’s the President extending a hand… [so] your assumption is always that he has good intentions, right?” she said in response to the warning of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that the President’s invitation might be a “trap.”

“It seems bad not to meet his offer halfway,” said Robredo, whose criticisms of the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war had angered his allies, including Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who threatened her with impeachment.

In an interview with dzMM, Robredo acknowledged concerns that Mr. Duterte might have ulterior motives in inviting her to dinner.

“But the way I look at it, at the end of the day, we were both elected. We were given the mandate to serve the people, and it’s our obligation to find common ground even though we may disagree on some matters,” Robredo said.

On Saturday, Mr. Duterte invited Robredo to a dinner with each other’s families during the graduation ceremony for the Philippine National Police Academy, one of the rare occasions the two feuding leaders were seen together.

The relationship between the two officials has been fraught with tension since Robredo, the chair of the Liberal Party, sent a video message to a United Nations side event criticizing the administration’s drug war, which has claimed thousands of lives.

While the President has asked his allies to stop the move to impeach Robredo, he has repeatedly accused her of being in a rush to succeed him to the presidency.

Robredo has denied she has designs on the presidency, saying her disagreement with the President on certain policies should not be construed as a desire to oust him.

She said she wished Mr. Duterte good health and a successful presidency on his 72nd birthday on Tuesday.

Upon their meeting last Saturday at the Philippine National Police Academy graduation rites, the two officials gave each other mutual reassurances that neither of them was behind the impeachment complaint the other was facing.

“When I met him onstage, the first thing he told me was he would not allow the impeachment [against me],” Robredo told reporters at St. Paul University in Quezon City, where she delivered a speech.

An impeachment complaint against Robredo has been submitted to the Speaker’s office for endorsement, accusing Robredo of betraying the public trust when she submitted that controversial video message to UN.

Robredo said she also assured the President that she was not behind the impeachment complaint filed by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, accusing Mr. Duterte of the mass murder of 8,000 drug suspects and of amassing P2.2 billion in unexplained wealth.

Robredo said Mr. Duterte answered back: “I know that.”

The two officials could discuss over dinner Robredo’s concerns about the drug-related killings in the country, which she said should not be swept under the rug, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

“I think they should discuss that over dinner,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said when sought for comment on the Vice President’s criticisms on the administration’s war against drugs. —WITH A REPORT FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA