MANILA, Philippines — More local officials in Mindanao, including a former governor who served in the Cabinet of President Duterte, have formally endorsed the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo.
Former South Cotabato governor and interior secretary Ismael Sueno endorsed Robredo during her visit to Koronadal City on Tuesday, saying it is “getting clearer and clearer every day” that she will be the next president of the country.
“During the first months of the Duterte administration, VP Leni was holding a Cabinet position. I… sat beside her during the Cabinet meetings. And our meetings would start with the President praising VP Leni, saying good things about her,” Sueno said.
“This was an opportune time or chance for VP Leni to be ‘sipsip’ to the President and get a much higher Cabinet position, but she was silent and very determined and focused. She had a strong sense of morality,” he added.
Robredo served as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council during the first five months of the Duterte administration. She tendered her resignation in December 2016 after she was disinvited from attending Cabinet meetings.
Sueno himself was fired by Duterte four months later due to alleged infighting within the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). He had denied corruption allegations against him.
In a separate endorsement, Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, who served as governor of the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, described Robredo as the “best chance” for Bangsamoro to maintain the peace that it currently enjoys.
“Assalamualaikum! Today, I declare my full and unwavering support for VP Robredo’s bid to become president as we approach the May 9 presidential elections. I also call on all Filipinos, especially those of us here in Basilan and the entire Bangsamoro, to join me,” Hataman said.
Robredo and Hataman are former colleagues in the Liberal Party. They are both allies of the late former president Benigno Simeon Aquino III since 2010.
In an interview last Tuesday in Kidapawan City, Robredo said she is not closing her doors on the possible endorsement of political opponents or rivals, provided that the relationship is not “transactional.”
She noted her earlier decision to run as an independent to show her willingness to work with anyone, including those with whom she had differences in the past.
Among the endorsements she recently received was from Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, the vice president for Visayas of Duterte’s faction of PDP-Laban.
In a statement, Evardone said his support for Robredo had the blessing of the President.
“Out of respect for (Duterte) as our President, as a father figure to me and as our party leader, I told him that I am about to endorse VP Leni because I see in her the sincerity of a leader to help the poor,” Evardone said.
Chiz defends VP Robredo
“Far-fetched and incredulous,” was how former senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, governor of Sorsogon province, described allegations that Vice President Leni Robredo has entered into an alliance with communist insurgents.
In a post on Twitter, Escudero said he and Robredo may have different positions on whether to retain or abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), but he believes the vice president is not planning to enter into an alliance with the rebels.
“I am in favor of the retention of the NTF-ELCAC ... and she may have a different position, but I find the allegation that she has entered into an alliance/agreement with the [communists] both far-fetched [and] incredulous, to say the least,” said Escudero, one of the guest candidates in the senatorial slate of the vice president.
Escudero has earlier expressed support for the NTF-ELCAC, saying the program has benefitted 16 barangays in his province. The agency implements the government’s Barangay Development Program.
Robredo has repeatedly said she is supportive of the “whole-of-nation” approach by the NTF-ELCAC, adding that what she is against is for the program to be used for “red-tagging.”
Escudero is among the latest personalities who have defended Robredo from the allegations after President Duterte and Sen. Ping Lacson released separate statements claiming that the Robredo camp has aligned itself with the communists to disrupt the May elections.