(Eagle News) — Breaking her silence for the first time after she came under fire for her antidrug war video message shown to the international community, Vice President Leni Robredo indirectly denied on Thursday she had plans of seizing the presidency.
“Ang pagpapahayag ng pangontra sa mga polisiya ng administrasyon ay hindi po yun nangangahulugan na gusto nating agawin ang posisyon. Wala po tayong ganung pangarap,” she said, noting that she only wanted to hear grievances.
Robredo made the pronouncement during a meeting with urban poor groups that paid her a visit in her office in Quezon City supposedly to express support for her.
The meeting was held simultaneous with a press conference conducted by a group of lawyers that announced they were to file an impeachment complaint against Robredo.
The group said they were still studying the grounds for the filing of the complaint, but that these could include Robredo’s alleged betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and alleged commission of high crimes in connection with the making of her video message.
The video message–which saw Robredo claiming that people were becoming “hopeless and helpless” as bodies piled up in Duterte’s drug war—was shown in an event organized by a nongovernment organization that is against drug wars in general.
The event was held on the sidelines of a main United Nations event in Vienna, Austria.
Robredo’s meeting also took place right after Duterte told those planning to file an impeachment complaint against her to “lay off,” saying her criticisms against government policies were part and parcel of a democracy.
Vaguely worded speech
During her speech worded in very vague terms, Robredo stood by her claims in the video, saying that all these were real.
“Alam ninyo na marami kayong dinala dito sa amin na mga personal ang karanasan sa extrajudicial killings…, ang karahasan sa paglabag ng mga karapatang pantao,” she said.
She said these people, who she said went to her so many times, asked that she “be their voice,” that they “needed protection.”
“Na wala (silang) tiwala sa sistemang nangyayari dahil ang takot ay nanggagaling sa mga opisyal at institusyon na kailangan sanang yun ang nagbibigay sa atin ng proteksyon,” she said, without being specific, but obviously taking a jab at the government.
During her speech, Robredo emphasized what she said was a “true” pronouncement by urban groups: that people had their eyes open but appeared to be “mute witnesses to what was happening.”
“Mahirap ang kalagayan. Sinubukan po nating lumapit, humingi ng tulong, pero di siya ganun kadali. Nagpapasalamat ako sa inyo sa paglakas niyo ng loob na ikwento ang katotohanan. Pinapanindigan natin na gagawin natin ang lahat, kahit bugbog na tayo, gagawin natin ang lahat para siguraduhin pa rin na ang inyong pagkatakot ay di mangyayari,” she said.
She said that she saw that there were also “fears” that “the situation before might return.”
She appears to be referring to the state in the country during martial law.
“Naiintindihan po natin yan. Alam natin na marami tayong pinagdadaanan na mahirap,..” she said.
Bongbong Marcos not spared
Robredo then went on to talk about what she said were the “hardships” she had to face in the form of personal attacks against her during the last elections.
She thought that after the polls, “everything would stop and we would work already.”
“Kaya lang pagkatapos ng eleksyon..Mahirap po yata talagang kalaban ang Marcos. Siguro kung hindi Marcos ang kalaban natin, hindi naman ganito kagulo,” she added, referring to her rival for the vice presidency in the last elections, Bongbong Marcos.
Marcos has a pending electoral protest.
Robredo did not say, however, how exactly Marcos figured in what she said was a “chaotic” situation.
“Pero alam po natin na walang pagkatanggap ng pagkatalo, pero parang dinadamay ang buong bansa dahil ayaw lang tanggapin ang pagkatalo,” she added.
During her speech, Robredo called on her supporters to stay calm, even as she issued pronouncements that appeared to call on her very supporters to rally against the government.
“Siguro ang challenge sa atin, paano ba natin malalabanan kahit gaano tayo kakonti. Kasi ganun naman pinanggalingan natin dati, kung naalala niyo noong panahon ng mga kadiliman onti din tayo. Pero siguro ang pagkaonti natin noon, at siguro pagkakaonti natin ngayon, yan ang dapat na magbigay sa atin ng inspirasyon at lakas dahil pinakita ng ating kasaysayan na anoman ang kadiliman, sa dulo ng lahat ang tama ang mananaig,” she said, appearing to refer to the Edsa Revolution that supposedly ousted from the presidency Marcos’ father, Ferdinand.
Impeachment complaint vs Robredo to be processed
But Robredo’s defense of her antidrug video message and Duterte’s recent pronouncements that appeared to be made also in her defense may not be enough to spare her from an impeachment complaint.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said that the House of Representatives has “to process all impeachment complaints against impeachable officials.”
So far, lawyer Oliver Lozano and radio broadcaster Melchor Chavez have filed a complaint against the second-highest-ranking official in the country.
In the six-page complaint, Lozano said that Robredo “betrayed the people by shaming the nation with her dishonest message to the UN.”
He noted that Robredo’s statement in the video about what she said were the “more than 7000 victims of extrajudicial killings” in the country was “fake news,” emphasizing that this number “has been repeated again and again by the Yellow Cult, and even by uninformed media abroad.”
He added that Robredo “doesn’t present any iota of evidence for her claims” of the human rights violations in the video.
“Ginagalang ko statement ng ating pangulo. We may agree with him sa mga maraming issues but this time, we disagree with him dahil po we are a separate branch of government and we are mandated by the Constitution to process all impeachment complaints. Kami ang may exclusive jurisdiction,” Alvarez said.
He added he had yet to see Lozano’s impeachment complaint.
According to the Speaker, whichever complaint will be endorsed, though, “we have to see to it that the complaint (form) and substance (are) strong enough to stand trial in an impeachment court.”
“To be fair, ayaw kong pangunahan ang committee on justice dahil sila po ang titingin ng complaint kung ito ay sufficient in form and then kung ito ay sufficient in substance. Hindi lang ito laro ng numero,” he noted.