Citizen Aquino: 'Leni Robredo can lead country'

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Benigno Aquino III is confident that Vice President Leni Robredo can govern the country well, contrary to President Duterte’s description of her as incompetent.

Commemorating his father’s 35th death anniversary yesterday at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque, Aquino said that while he respects Duterte’s opinion, the President should also respect the people who voted for Robredo.

Under succession rules, Aquino emphasized that it is Robredo who will replace Duterte should he resign and not losing vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“(Duterte) knows that, being a lawyer. So that might be a personal opinion, but he knows what to do under the Constitution,” Aquino told reporters in an ambush interview.

Aquino added that he will help those “who have similar views and advocacies” with him in next year’s midterm elections.

He added that he will campaign for the Liberal Party (LP) candidates in the senatorial elections to boost the opposition and their “checks and balances” function in the government.

He said he wants to boost the number of the opposition.

Aquino urged the public who are fed up with the way the Duterte administration is running the country to vote for their candidates next year.

In his speech during the mass at Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City, Aquino said Filipinos should use next year’s polls to voice their displeasure with the current administration, eliciting cheers from supporters mostly clad in yellow shirts.

Among those in attendance were Robredo, Sens. Francis Pangilinan and Antonio Trillanes IV and some of Aquino’s former Cabinet members.

The former president took a swipe at Duterte’s war on illegal drugs where 4,410 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed in law enforcement operations.

Aquino lamented that the truth seems to be a scarce commodity in the Duterte administration. To prove his point, he expressed doubts on the familiar reason of the police that drug suspects were killed after they put up a fight.

“When a suspect is arrested, his hands are handcuffed at his back, not in front of him,” Aquino said in Filipino, adding that he was puzzled how suspects could allegedly fight back.

Aquino also wondered why police officials are not questioning their subordinates involved in these alleged armed encounters.

Meanwhile, Duterte said he has nothing against Robredo, but he claimed that the country would deteriorate should she succeed him if he decides to step down.

“Robredo would be vulnerable to the charlatans who surround her,” the President told more than 300 members of the Lex Talionis Fraternity of San Beda Law School and Ateneo de Davao University during their anniversary at the Marco Polo Davao Hotel over the weekend.

Duterte earlier said the LP, which Robredo leads, has been salivating to return to power.

For her part, Robredo urged Filipinos to fight for the freedoms Benigno Aquino Jr. died for and to “live up to the unshakable faith (Ninoy) had in us as a people.”

“Our remembrance of Ninoy tends to focus largely on his martyrdom, when, through his courage in the face of death, he inspired a people to find their own,” she said.

“Despite prison, hopelessness and the seeming indifference of so many of the very people whose freedoms he was fighting for, Ninoy never lost faith in his fellow Filipinos and the nation he loved,” the Vice President said.

Political opposition

Sens. Pangilinan and Leila de Lima called on Filipinos to continue the fight for true democracy, the right to life and due process.

Pangilinan, who is president of the LP, noted how Aquino led the battle to reclaim the country’s freedom and democracy and did not falter even though he faced certain death for going up against the dictatorship.

“The struggle continues, for right to life, for improved lives, for right to hold government accountable, for social services, for right to due process, for safe and healthy environment,” Pangilinan said.

“Now it is upon us, the people, especially today’s youth whose future is at stake, to bring about the change that Ninoy paid for with his life. Now is the time to do our share and show how much we love our country,” he added.

The LP is now the recognized political opposition in the country.

De Lima, currently detained after being charged with drug cases, said Filipinos should always be reminded of Aquino’s courage now that Duterte continues to threaten the country’s democracy.

“Let us continue to stand against this dark period in our history, arm-in-arm and fight for truth and justice,” she added in Filipino. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Edith Regalado, Helen Flores, Marvin Sy