President Rodrigo Duterte explained why he decided not to appoint Vice President Leni Robredo to a position equivalent to cabinet rank.
In an interview with the press on Wednesday, President Duterte said that the moves of Vice President Leni Robredo after being appointed as the co-chair of ICAD made him doubt to give him a cabinet rank.
According to Duterte, he’s really planning to give more powers to Robredo as long as there a security clearance from the government, military, and the police.
“Ang problema kay Robredo, after she was appointed she began talking publicly about inviting the Human Rights Commission, she was talking to the United Nations, at marami na siyang pinagsasabi,” Duterte said.
“Kung ganon, sabi ko… ‘I cannot appoint her as a Cabinet member’ if that is her mouth behaves, kasi kung cabinet member sana siya, she have the authority because she’s an alter-ego of me,” he added.
Duterte pointed out that he doesn’t really know Robredo and the people surrounding her.
“I cannot trust her, not only because she is with the opposition, I do not trust her because I do not know her, hindi ko alam kung sino ang kausap niya, hindi ko alam kung sinong mga politiko o sinong mga tao,” he said.
He then said that Bicol, the province where VP Robredo came from is one of the hotspots in the country.
Duterte also mentioned the risk of having Robredo in a cabinet meeting.
“You know, she’s with the opposition and she will attend cabinet meetings, in that cabinet meetings we discuss day-to-day matters, we discuss security matters, we discuss critical issues, kasi kung siya nandyan at hindi ko naman siya kilala and the way she behaves after I appointed her does not inspire… its not inspiring, natakot tuloy ako,” he said.
Duterte said that there’s a possibility that the allies of Robredo ask something from her if she has access to the records of the government and use it against him in the future.
“She was grandstanding na, it was a carnival, she was talking left and right, you will just place the republic of the Philippines in jeopardy,” he said.