VP Leni should have a Cabinet portfolio

With all due respect to the incoming president, millions of Filipinos, especially the more than 14 million who made Congresswoman Leni Gerona Robredo win over Senators Bongbong Marcos, Alan Peter Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Gregorio Honasan, we firmly believe that, it is to the greater interest of the nation, if the president appoints the vice president to a Cabinet position. To say that appointing Robredo would make Bongbong feel bad, begs the question: so what? Well, of course, before we are scolded by Mayor Digong, we hasten to say that, of course, it is his prerogative. Nobody has the right to insist. It's his call.

But if the president puts national interest over partisan considerations, millions of poor Filipinos, farmers, urban poor settlers, the homeless, the jobless, the hopeless masses or  what she calls the "tsinelas" crowd, (instead of "bakya crowd") would be very happy if Leni would be given the NAPC (National Anti-Poverty Commission) to lead and manage. In that position, the Duterte administration will have a bigger impact and more meaningful effect on the lives of the marginalized sectors in Philippine society. Leni is a brilliant lawyer with a heart in the right place. It is a waste of talent not to put her in an agency where she can really do a lot for the masses.

President Digong will be better advised if he learns from history. President Carlos P. Garcia, a Nacionalista, in the fifties, refused to give a cabinet portfolio to Vice President Diosdado P. Macapagal, a Liberal. And so, Cong Dadong used all the four years of his vice presidency, going around the whole country, organizing the LP and strengthening his grassroots organization. In the next elections, when Garcia ran for reelection, he lost heavily to Macapagal. That was why all his successors learned from that important political lesson. Presidents should not be threatened by vice presidents. They should work as a team.

President Marcos assigned the agriculture portfolio to Vice President Fernando Lopez, of course, that was the thing before the falling out between FM and the Lopezes. President Cory Aquino assigned Vice President Salvador "Doy" Laurel to Foreign Affairs. President FVR made Vice President Joseph Estrada the crime czar even when they did not belong to the same party. And Erap appointed GMA as DSWD secretary when in fact, GMA and Erap were from opposite political camps. GMA had no problem with Vice President Noli de Castro who was also a member of the cabinet, in the housing sector although we cannot recall anything significant that he did. And PNoy put VP Binay on top of the OFWs and the housing sectors. I don't know what he did.

Now, President Digong should not listen to intrigue that Leni does not belong to PDP-Laban. Both of them, Digong and Leni belong to the nation. They should set aside all partisan interests behind and work for the greater interests of more than 110 million Filipinos, most especially the poor who needs government the most. As a perfect gentleman, President Duterte should invite Vice President Leni to Davao and the two should talk heart-to-heart. The elections are over, partisanship is over. We should stand together as one nation. And they should lead us as the national father and mother. That, above all things, is what matters most.