Facebook page Dayaang Matuwid posted a 55-second video of what it claimed to be a secret meeting between Vice President Leni Robredo and Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista.
Based on the captions in the video, the meeting was held on the 10th floor of the Urdaneta Apartments in Makati City, specifically at the unit of socialite Baby Cruz. The video also claimed the meeting happened on July 12, a few hours after Robredo was ordered by the Supreme Court to submit her reply to Senator Bongbong Marcos’ electoral protest filed against her.
The video was a mix of video clips and stills of Robredo’s vehicle and of her entering the apartments, video clips taken on the 10th floor of the building, and the doorway full of people where the alleged secret meeting was held. It also showed Robredo leaving the building with a time stamp of 10:26pm and another clip showing Bautista coming out of the apartments with a time stamp of 10:30pm.
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However, both Robredo and Bautista have denied any secret meeting between the two of them. They called the video “malicious” and said that they were both invited to a dinner party with at least 30 to 40 other guests.
“I attended a dinner party with maybe 40 guests. Comelec Chairman Bautista was there but I can’t remember discussing things with him. We just greeted each other but we did not talk,” Robredo told reporters at a press briefing at the Office of the Vice President at the Quezon City Reception House on Thursday, July 14.
She added that if the accusations of the Facebook page were true, the video would have shown the meeting.
Bautista also denied the meeting, saying “It was a social gathering. The members of the diplomatic corps were there. We didn’t talk about politics… Nakapag-hi hello lang ako kay VP.”
When interviewed by DZBB radio, Bautista also said there were plenty of witnesses at the event, “The secret meeting is not true. Maraming testigo.”
The dinner party was also said to be attended by US Ambassador to the Philippines Phillip Goldberg and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Robredo’s daughters Aika, Tricia, and Jillian were also in attendance. In fact, you can spot them leaving with their mother in the video posted by Dayaang Matuwid, right when they were about to enter their vehicle. They were all wearing the same clothes that you can see during Robredo’s oath taking as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chair administered by President Rodrigo Duterte on the afternoon of July 12.
The Dayaang Matuwid video showed spliced photos and spliced video clips with “malicious” captions that aimed to portray a hush hush meeting with Robredo and Bautista, making it seem as though they are ganging up on Marcos. But no such thing happened, except what they desperately wanted to portray using their paparazzi and video editing skills.
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