Robredo open to mend fences with Duterte

PHOTO FROM VP LENI ROBREDO’S OFFICE

Vice President Leni Robredo said on Saturday she hoped to get another chance to mend fences with President Rodrigo Duterte after she was disinvited to his first vin d’honneur at Malacañang two weeks ago.

She said she had not seen or talked to the President since she quit his Cabinet in December over political differences.

 Another opportunity

Respectful

“I am always respectful toward the President. I think we have reached the level when I was a Cabinet member, in which I could disagree with his policy, and tell it to him,” Robredo said in Filipino.

She said her relationship with Mr. Duterte only soured as a result of misinformation.

“Based on the reports coming in, there are many things being reported to him that are not true,” she said.

One example, she said, was her supposed attendance at rallies calling for Mr. Duterte’s ouster, which served as the basis for his directive to her to stop attending Cabinet meetings. This was what prompted her to resign in December.

“It’s unfortunate that he believed those reports. But on my part, again, I don’t want to dwell on this anymore because it’s over. My objective now is making the most out of what is there,” Robredo said.

“Like now, our people need us, so I will be focusing on that,” she said.