Robredo on Cabinet: ‘Hindi ko ipagsisiksikan ang sarili ko’

Patty Pasion

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Robredo on Cabinet: ‘Hindi ko ipagsisiksikan ang sarili ko’
'Iyong Cabinet post kasi, position of confidence iyon. Kailangang buo ang tiwala sa akin ng Pangulo,' Vice President Leni Robredo says

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday, January 3, said she would rather not seek a Cabinet post, which she described as a “position of confidence,” if President Rodrigo Duterte has low trust in her. 

“Hindi ko na rin ipagsisiksikan ang sarili ko. Ako naman, ang desire na tumulong ay parating nariyan, pero mahirap naman na hindi ka pinagkakatiwalaan,” Robredo said in a chance interview in Camarines Sur. 

(I am not pushing myself in. For me, the desire to help is always there, but it is hard when you are not trusted.)

Robredo added: “Iyong Cabinet post kasi, position of confidence iyon. Kailangang buo ang tiwala sa akin ng Pangulo. Pero kung ganoon ang kasinungalingan na pinaniwalaan, gustong sabihin na iyong tiwala sa akin napakababa, so wala na ring point.

(A Cabinet post is a position of confidence. The President should have solid trust in me. But if such a lie would be believed, and they want to say the trust in me is so low, there is already no point.)

Duterte, during his series of interviews with various media groups on December 29, said he is not keen on giving Robredo a Cabinet post because she supposedly attended rallies that seek to oust him.

Robredo resigned from the Cabinet as housing chief after receiving orders from Malacañang for her to stop attending Cabinet meetings. 

 

Robredo, who has just returned from her trip to the United States, said that many people – even the media who covered rallies against the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) – know that she did not join those events.

Parang napakasimpleng bagay na madaling i-verify, bakit ang pinaniwalaan ang hindi totoo?” she said. (It was easy to verify, why believe the lie?)

Despite this, she said, she will continue to support the administration.

When Marcos was buried in a stealth ceremony last November 18, a series of protests erupted in Metro Manila and several provinces. Two grand protests – November 25 in Luneta and November 30 at the People Power Monument – were held. Robredo was invited to join the People Power Monument rally but she did not participate.

Cabinet members from the Left, such as Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and anti-poverty chief Liza Maza, were present in the Luneta rally. Meanwhile, Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo delivered a message there. (READ: The night Ferdinand Marcos was buried – again

Robredo attended the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation‘s awarding of the hero status to victims of Martial Law. She earlier said she was there to pay tribute to the late Inquirer editor-in-chief Letty Jimenez Magsanoc and the late Liberal Party chairman emeritus Jovito Salonga, who were both awardees. – Rappler.com

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Patty Pasion

Patty leads the Rappler+ membership program. She used to be a Rappler multimedia reporter who covered politics, labor, and development issues of vulnerable sectors.