Leni accepts Rody’s invitation to dinner

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Leni Robredo has accepted President Duterte’s dinner invitation to her and her children despite warnings that it could be a ploy to “politically neutralize” her.

In an interview with dzMM yesterday, Robredo said she would like to take the opportunity to personally discuss with Duterte her “concerns” on controversial government policies.

She also said it is improper to turn down the invitation from the country’s highest official.

“He’s the President. To me I see it as extending a hand. The assumptions should always be good intentions, right? It is bad if I don’t meet his offer halfway,” Robredo said in Filipino.

“There’s no schedule yet, but I will come,” she added.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a critic of Duterte, had warned Robredo that Duterte’s invitation to her was a “trap” to “disarm” her.

“I’m aware of the concerns of many. But I think at the end of the day, we were both elected,” Robredo said.

“We were both given mandates to serve the country and it is our obligation to find common ground even if we don’t agree on some issues,” she added.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson expressed hope that the dinner of the President and Vice President will turn out well.

Lacson said Duterte’s dinner invitation should be regarded as “a goodwill sign on the part of the inviter instead of imputing malice and ill-motive, if only to allow the two top officials of the land to thresh out whatever misunderstanding they may have.”

“The dinner meeting shouldn’t stop VP Robredo from giving unsolicited advice, much less criticize the administration albeit constructively,” he added.

Lacson observed that the apparent misunderstanding between Duterte and Robredo worsened when Robredo was “unceremoniously disinvited from Cabinet meetings” last December.

Robredo resigned as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council after Duterte ordered his men to tell her to stop attending Cabinet meetings.

The Vice President said she would not accept another post in the government should the President offer her one again.

Duterte was first reluctant to give Robredo a Cabinet position as he didn’t want to hurt his friend former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the dictator. Duterte’s father was a member of the Marcos Cabinet.

Robredo defeated Marcos Jr. by a slim margin of more than 200,000 votes in last year’s elections.

Leni: Good health, success to Rody

Robredo also wished Duterte good health and a successful term on his 72nd birthday yesterday. 

“I pray that he will continue to have good health and for his administration to succeed,” Robredo said.

“I assure him of my support on things which we both believe in,” the Vice President said, citing her office’s efforts to educate the public on the government’s tax reform package.

She explained that expressing dissent on certain policies does not mean that she wants the President out.

“When we oppose, it doesn’t mean that we don’t want his administration to succeed. A leader who listens to his people becomes a better leader,” she added.

Robredo shrugged off reports that she is one of the personalities being monitored by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) amid an alleged destabilization plot against the Duterte administration.

“If that is true, (the AFP) can attest that I am not part of any destabilization efforts,” she said.

The AFP has denied that it is monitoring the movements of Robredo as well as opposition Senators Trillanes and Leila de Lima, who is currently detained on drug charges.

Robredo also joked about her red dress, which she said she purposely wore because it was the President’s birthday. 

Duterte on several occasions has expressed his admiration for Robredo’s beauty.

He extended the invitation to Robredo and her children during the Philippine National Police Academy graduation rites in Silang, Cavite last week.

Robredo said during the PNPA graduation ceremony, she and Duterte assured each other that they are not part of the impeachment efforts.

Both officials are facing impeachment complaints in the House of Representatives.

Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes, which are grounds for impeachment under the Constitution.

Known Marcos loyalists Oliver Lozano and Melchor Chavez, on the other hand, filed an impeachment complaint against Robredo.

They accused her of committing “acts of injustice” when she sent to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, Austria a video message criticizing Duterte’s bloody drug war and baring the alleged “palit-ulo” scheme wherein authorities would take a family member in case the original person on the drug list cannot be found.

Robredo’s critics, including Duterte’s ally Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, saw the video message as a “betrayal of public trust” for shaming the country before the international community.

 Leni to give DILG chief ‘palit-ulo’ details

Robredo said she did not regret making the video message on the human rights abuses in the government’s war on drugs before the UN event.  

She also said she would meet with Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno to turn over information on the alleged “palit-ulo” scheme in the drug war. Their meeting is set after Holy Week.

“I will provide him the details,” Robredo said in an interview with dzMM.

“I was criticized because they said I have no basis (for making such claims), my instinct was to defend myself, but I couldn’t reveal the people who provided me the information because they are afraid,” she explained.

Robredo said prior to the taping of the message for the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting, she had requested the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) last January to provide her office details on the government’s illegal drug campaign amid reports of extrajudicial killings.

The Office of the Vice President did not receive any response from the DILG and PNP.

Robredo said the data she cited in her video message to the UN came from human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

“I don’t regret it. I studied it carefully before I did the video. I feel a little bit frustrated because I had been very vocal about the anti-drug war, but I felt that we’re being ignored,” she said.

Robredo said just days after her video message at the UN, there were people who came out in the media confirming the palit-ulo scheme.  – With Paolo Romero, Edith Regaldo