MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday hit back at the remark of President Rodrigo Duterte that he might step down should former Sen. Bongbong Marcos win in his electoral protest.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque earlier said the president was worried over who would succeed him if he resigns as he wants a "better qualified" person to replace him.
"If there's a better leader or if there's a qualified leader to take over and he has said that Senator Bongbong Marcos is one of the better qualified leaders to succeed him, if there's developments and he will win the protest and he becomes vice president, yes, he will make true on his word," Roque said in a press briefing.
Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, the vice president's legal counsel, however, said Duterte's resignation would not happen "because Mr. Marcos will never win his electoral protest."
Meanwhile, Sen. Bam Aquino said in a statement that there are more important matters to be discussed than talks of resigning and insults against the vice president.
"Imbis na usaping pagre-resign at pagiinsulto kay VP Leni, mas mahalaga sa taumbayan na ang aksyunan ang mabibigat na problema ng bayan tulad ng patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo, at pagpasok ng ilegal na droga sa ating Customs," he said.
The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, started the recount of votes for the election protest of defeated vice presidential candidate Marcos against Robredo last April.
Marcos, son of the ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, claimed there was "massive cheating" in the vice presidential race, causing his loss to Robredo by about 260,000 votes.
Duterte said on Wednesday he prefers Marcos or Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero as his successor if he ever steps down as president. He, however, did not mention his running mate and now Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.
"Preference na ni president yun pero im sure his number one preference is Alan Cayetano. I don’t have to interpret what the president says as the vice president is concerned let's not belabor the point," Roque said.
"I guess he was just saying parang there's so many other people who are better qualified but I’m sure yun na nga the list is longer than just those two," he added. — Philstar.com intern Christian de Lano Deiparine