VICE President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo on Saturday called for a meeting with leaders of the Liberal Party (LP) to discuss its next steps following her resignation from the Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Speaking to reporters, Robredo said she would like to consult former president and LP stalwart Benigno Aquino 3rd and defeated LP presidential bet Manuel Roxas 2nd.
“Siguro to discuss with them. Sana magkaroon ng pagkakataon na makaupo nang sabay-sabay [I hope there’s an opportunity so sit down],” Robredo said in Laguna, where she attended the 30th anniversary celebration of microfinance organization Card-MRI.
Robredo,who resigned from Duterte’s Cabinet last week, said she had informed Aquino, Roxas and other LP leaders of her decision to quit but “not in details.”
Robredo stepped down as housing czar after Duterte, through Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., instructed her to “desist from attending all Cabinet meetings.”
Palace officials later on cited her “irreconcilable differences” with the President as the reason for the directive.
Robredo has since expressed her willingness to unify the “discordant voices” of those who are critical of the administration’s policies, hoping that this would make the President listen and perhaps reconsider.
Some LP members have called on party leaders to break away from majority coalitions in the House and Senate, and take on the role of an opposition party.
On Saturday, the vice president said she was hoping politics would stop getting in the way of sworn duty.
“Now that the elections are over, the expectation is that we help each other. Even if I am no longer in the Cabinet, I will support things that I think are good for everyone,” she said in Filipino.