Robredo to women: Protect suffrage

Vice President Leni Robredo. AP FILE PHOTO

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday reminded Filipino women to continue protecting their right to suffrage and not allow their hard-won victory on the right to vote to be wasted.

Robredo issued a statement marking Women’s Suffrage Day, calling to mind that on April 30, 1937, 400,000 Filipinos agreed in a plebiscite that women should be allowed to vote and seek elective positions.

“You yourselves proved that women are not only the light of the homes, but the light of the whole country toward a successful and peaceful government, [you] stand up not only for your own rights but for what is good for all,” the Vice President said in Filipino.

Robredo also urged the Filipino women to continue defending their rights.

Robredo is one of three women in the country’s history who have held the two highest elective positions in government, after former President Corazon Aquino and former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Arroyo was also Vice President before she became Chief Executive.

Robredo is now in the middle of a legal battle to defend the real mandate of the Filipino people, as she faces Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., only son and namesake of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in a presidential electoral tribunal.

Marcos filed an electoral protest, claiming he was cheated in the elections last year.

On Tuesday, Robredo is set to pay at the Supreme Court the P8-million fee set by the high court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal for her counterprotest against Marcos. Robredo’s supporters vowed to show their support on Tuesday.

The Silent Majority, Robredo’s online supporters, are gearing up for a show of force on Tuesday on Padre Faura where the Supreme Court holds office.