Friends in Davao: Leni Robredo, Sara Duterte meet

Bea Cupin

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Friends in Davao: Leni Robredo, Sara Duterte meet
There's no talk of politics as LP vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo and former Davao City mayor Sara Duterte meet

MANILA, Philippines – They may be rooting for different bets in the 2016 national elections but politics didn’t prevent Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Leni Robredo and Sara Duterte from sharing a quick meal at a carinderia in Davao City.

Robredo is the running mate of Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II while Duterte is the daughter of presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Actually wala mi gi discuss anything. Nangamusta lang siya sa akoa, sa akong mama. Unya nikaon mi gamay. Wala mi gisturyaan about sa politics,” Sara Duterte, who was also mayor of Davao City, told reporters in a chance interview, adding that the two women met right before Robredo’s flight back to Manila on Tuesday, December 22.

(We didn’t discuss anything. She asked how I was, how my mother was. We shared a meal. We didn’t talk about politics at all.) 

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, Robredo recorded the biggest gain – 11 points – from 3% in September to 14% in December.

Mayor Duterte’s running mate is Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who ranked third in the same survey with 18%.

Sara Duterte will be running for mayor in the 2016 elections, after her father withdrew his candidacy so he could run for president in 2016. Both Robredo and Sara Duterte are lawyers who are familiar with the workings of local governance.

The younger Duterte was mayor of Davao at the same time that the late interior secretary Jesse Robredo, the husband of Leni, was in office.

Asked if the meeting meant they would support Robredo’s vice presidential bid, Sara Duterte said they were “waiting for the final decision of the party.”

Mag-sunod ra mi kay Mayor [Duterte] kung unsa iang final gyud (We will follow Mayor Duterte with regards to that final decision],” she added. 

Robredo will be visiting Davao City again before the year ends, this time to attend the silver wedding anniversary of Davao City Councilor Mabel Acosta, where she will be among the primary sponsors. 

Another primary sponsor? No less than Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. 

Joining Robredo and Duterte as principal sponsors are LP Senate candidate Senator Teofisto Guingona III, and former Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio. Acosta, Guingona, and Panlilio are all “champions” of the Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership, a group founded by the late Jesse Robredo. 

Acosta, meanwhile, is affiliated with the local Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod party, which Duterte also belongs to.  

The presidential candidates linked to Leni Robredo and Sara Duterte recently engaged in a week-long verbal spat that saw them exchange “myth” accusations. This escalated into a slap, fist, and gun fight challenge.

The word war has since died down.

Nakakalungkot, na ganoong level ang away. Parang binaba sa ganitong level (It’s sad that they’re stooping down to that level. It’s like they put it down to this level),” Robredo said in a chance interview on December 17, when asked about the Roxas-Duterte exchanges.

Roxas has since called on Duterte to “level up” and discuss issues instead.

The two presidential bets were once friends until late 2015, as the election fever heated up. Mayor Duterte accused Roxas of spreading rumors that he had cancer, which Roxas has denied. – with reports from Editha Caduaya/Rappler.com

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Bea Cupin

Bea is a senior multimedia reporter who covers national politics. She's been a journalist since 2011 and has written about Congress, the national police, and the Liberal Party for Rappler.