MANILA, Philippines – The first 100 days of Vice President-elect Leni Robredo’s term will be spent with the country’s poorest, as well as meeting “potential partners” that her office can team up with to push forward her anti-poverty plans.

It’s going to be “both exciting and challenging” for the country’s 14th Vice President, her chief of staff Boyet Dy told Rappler in a chance interview on Thursday, June 23.

Unlike her predecessors, after all, Robredo will not be holding a concurrent Cabinet position.

“What’s clear is that we will need to engage with as many stakeholders as we can to be able to build a shared agenda,” added Dy, who was policy chief during Robredo’s campaign and is currently part of the team that will ensure a smooth transition from outgoing Vice President Jejomar Binay to Robredo.

Vice Presidents, under the Philippine Constitution, do not have a specific role in governance. Traditionally, they are offered Cabinet posts by the president.

Binay handled the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and was an adviser for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) concerns under the outgoing president, Benigno Aquino III.

But the next president, Rodrigo Duterte, is not keen on offering a Cabinet post to the Bicolana vice president – at least for the time being. Duterte explained he was searching for appointees within his immediate circle, from friends to party mates.

The outgoing Davao City mayor was standard-bearer of PDP-Laban while Robredo ran under the ruling Liberal Party (LP).

Not having a Cabinet post means Robredo will have to work with the budget allocated to the Office of the Vice President or source funds outside her office.

Dy, who has already met with Binay’s own transition team, had earlier assured the public that enough “fiscal space” had been given to push for Robredo’s “advocacies and programs not just this year but even until 2017.”

“A lot of stakeholders have already approached to collaborate with us, to help us and to work with us to be able to push the anti-poverty advocacies. There’s really been a lot of informal contact already between the organizations, and our plan is to hit the ground running from July 1 to really explore possibilities with these potential partners for the anti-poverty programs,” he added.

The OVP will see a lot of changes under Robredo. First, it’s moving house from the Coconut Palace in Pasay City to the Quezon City Reception House, where the rent is expected to be much cheaper.

The new OVP home’s location is also strategic, explained Dy. Quezon City is also where the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and the National Anti-Poverty Commission are based.

Robredo’s team expects to work hand-in-hand with those agencies for anti-poverty programs.

“Satellite” offices of the Vice President are also in the works.

While plans have yet to be finalized, Dy told Rappler they are keen on opening 3 offices outside Metro Manila – one each in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The Luzon office will likely be established in Naga City, where Robredo hails from, while the Visayas and Mindanao offices are likely to be built in the island groups’ most impoverished areas.

“So bahagi ng pag-iikot ni Ma’am (Part of Vice President Robredo’s travels), especially in the first 100 days, is meeting with potential partners, but also making sure that she will continue to be a listening vice president as she has always been in terms of her work fighting for the marginalized,” said Dy.

Prior to joining politics in 2013, Robredo was a lawyer for the poor. She was once part of the Public Attorney’s Office in her home province. Later, she joined the alternative law group Saligan.

Anti-poverty programs, rural development, and female empowerment were the cornerstones of Robredo’s 2016 run. – Rappler.com