A casual conversation. A chance visit. Nothing political.
This was how the camps of former Philippine vice-president Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and her successor Sara Duterte-Carpio portrayed their meeting in Naga City on September 20, 2024.
As the narrative went, Duterte-Carpio was in town for the Penafrancia, a Marian festival, and she simply decided to drop in at Robredo’s home.
But given the supercharged political atmosphere in the Philippines, the meeting has attracted more than just passing attention.
In an interview with radio station Teleradyo Serbisyo, political analyst Ronald Llamas said that the contact made by the current vice-president and daughter of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte is nothing but political.
Llamas said that it’s all about the political survival of the Duterte family.
“They are confronting an existential crisis, a crisis of survival,” Llamas said, pointing to the diminishing political fortunes of the Duterte family.
Llamas said that the Dutertes are “in a corner” and “besieged” by perils posed by a number of issues.
These include the possibility that former president Duterte may be arrested by the International Criminal Court for extra-judicial killings during his term between 2016 and 2022.
“They are clutching at straws,” Llamas, a former political adviser to ex-president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, said about the Dutertes.
Llamas speculated Duterte-Carpio could be making a “veiled threat” against her former running mate and now Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
He said that this supposed threat possibly involves the conduct of the 2022 national election, which Marcos Jr. and Duterte-Carpio won by landslide against Robredo and her running mate Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.
There have been allegations of fraud in the said election, claims that the Commission on Elections deny.
Llamas said that by meeting Robredo, Duterte-Carpio could be sowing “intrigues” in order to draw heat away from her family.
With the political survival of the Dutertes at stake, Llamas said that this camp will do anything to bring down Marcos Jr. and his administration.
Llamas also found something odd about the statement released by the office of Duterte-Carpio about her visit to Robredo.
“During her stay in Naga, Vice President Duterte visited several prominent Bicol personalities and heard Mass with ordinary Bicolanos. She neither looked desperate nor distressed,” the statement read.
Llamas noted that the part about being “neither … desperate nor distressed” seemed to have come out of nowhere.
But at the same time, Llamas said that some are saying that Duterte-Carpio’s move to meet Robredo is a “desperate move” to change the narrative around the falling political stock of the Dutertes.
Meanwhile, Llamas said that Robredo “does not need this” distraction because she is no longer playing the national political scene.
Robredo is widely reported to be running in Naga City for mayor, the post that was held by her late husband Jesse.
Through spokesperson Barry Gutierrez, Robredo issued a statement saying she and Duterte-Carpio did not talk politics.
“While she was in Naga City for the Peñafrancia Festival, VP Sara Duterte took the opportunity to visit me at my home. The conversation we had was personal and not political,” Robredo said.
Gutierrez said Robredo was informed that the vice-president was on her way to her home just minutes before her arrival. Their meeting lasted about an hour, he also said.
Robredo served as vice-president during the term of Duterte-Carpio’s father.
For meeting Duterte-Carpio, Robredo was criticized by her ally, former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.
In a post on X, Trillanes IV said it was a “wrong” move on Robredo’s part to accept Duterte’s request for a meeting.
“Ma’am Leni, we even want VP Sara impeached,” the former senator stated.
Two days before visiting the former vice-president, Duterte-Carpio told reporters on September 18 that she was never a friend of Marcos Jr.
In July this year, Duterte-Carpio resigned from the cabinet of Marcos Jr.
Duterte-Carpio earlier expressed regret for endorsing Marcos Jr. for president during the 2022 national elections.
By Carlito Pablo
Former Vice President Leni Robredo and Vice President Sara Duterte (Courtesy” Robredo/Duterte/Facebook)