Robredo on Bongbong’s alleged DILG takeover: ‘Scary’

Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Former Senator Bongbong Marcos getting a Cabinet position will only give the Marcoses an opportunity to commit what they did in the past, Vice President Leni Robredo said.

Robredo described the thought of Marcos holding a sensitive post such as the leadership of the Department of Interior and Local Government, which oversees the Philippine National Police, as “scary.”

“There have been several decisions already asking them to pay back whatever they got from the people but all of these judgments are not satisfied yet and now he is aiming for another Cabinet position and for me that is scary in the sense that he will again be given an opportunity to do what they did before,” Robredo said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Friday.

READ: Sueno on rumors of DILG takeover by Marcos: It’s President’s call

But Robredo said she nevertheless respects the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte on whomever he wants to join his Cabinet.

“It is always the President’s privilege whom to appoint in his Cabinet but my concern here is that the Marcoses have not paid for what they did to the country,” Robredo said.

READ: The Marcos debt

There had been rumors circulating that Duterte, a family friend of the Marcoses, will appoint the former legislator, as the DILG chief and replace Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno.

Marcos, who lost the vice presidential election to Robredo, can only join Duterte’s Cabinet once the one-year ban on appointing losing candidates lapses in May.

It may be recalled that Duterte was apprehensive before to appoint Robredo as his housing czar because he did not want to “hurt the feelings” of Marcos.

Robredo eventually resigned from Duterte’s Cabinet.

Aside from the PNP and local government units nationwide, the DILG also supervises the Bureau of Fire Protection and the National Police Commission.

Robredo’s late husband, Jesse, held the position before dying in a plane crash during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III. IDL/rga