Liberal Party’s leadership position is up for grabs and as per the party’s rules, the said position is more likely to be offered to the highest elected official. In this case, it’s going to be Vice President Leni Robredo.
Several news articles have come out speculating what Robredo’s role is going to be in the party, many members of whom have flocked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s party, the PDP-LABAN.
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But one article from Manila Times has claimed that Robredo has rejected LP’s offer with its headline, “Robredo turns down LP leadership role,” and naturally, it was picked up by antagonistic parties.
However, even the news article itself was quite confusing whether Robredo rejected LP’s leadership role outright since it also stated the vice president’s earlier TV interview saying that “she preferred to hold a titular position instead, but would follow the party’s decision.”
This does not seem to be a complete rejection of the leadership position of her party at all.
So, we looked for other articles on the issue and found this GMA News Online article with this headline, “Leni Robredo hesitant to take on LP leadership role.”
That seems to be a more accurate description of Robredo’s stance on the issue.
GMA quoted her saying, “Hindi pa ito napag-usapan, pero mas preferred ko siguro na parang mas titular ‘yung aking [position] kasi yung sa party ways, hindi pa ako masyadong familiar kumpara doon sa matatagal na talaga sa partido.”
Robredo also explained that LP has yet to meet and talk about the leadership structure.
“Hopefully after the SONA ay makapag-meet na kami formally as a party. Ngayon kasi parang there’s no point of meeting yet formally kasi magalaw pa masyado ang sitwasyon sa partido,” Robredo said.
Even former President Benigno Aquino III said that Robredo can chose between being LP’s chairperson or president, but in the end, it would be her choice.
“She is aware that she will take one of the most senior positions [of the party]… We have to ask her preferences… because we don’t force from anybody to do anything,” Aquino told the press two weeks before he stepped down from the presidential seat.
He explained the differences between the roles of the two positions, citing that he’s the current chairman of LP.
“The highest position is the chairman but ‘yung day-to-day activities are handled by the party president so that will be decided by the party as a whole,” Aquino said.
Right now, Robredo possibly has not made up her mind on whether to reject the LP leadership role or not. Everything will probably be decided during the party’s first formal meeting after the 2016 elections.
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