By Raymund Antonio
Vice President Leni Robredo urged the public to continue to speak up and fight for what is right even if their dissenting voices are not heard.
Vice President Leni Robredo
(Charlie Villegas, OVP / MANILA BULLETIN)
Robredo, a leader of the opposition, said Filipinos should not remain silent and must continue to take a stand as the country goes through difficult times.
“Hindi dapat tayo huminto na ipahayag ang ating pagtutol at pagpapaabot ng ating paniniwala kahit palagay natin hindi tayo pinakikinggan. Kasi kapag huminto tayo, lalong humihina iyong boses natin (We should not stop from expressing our dissent and beliefs even we feel they don’t listen to us. Because when we stop, our voices weaken,” she said in interview with local radio station DWBL.
The Vice President then called on Filipinos not to be afraid to voice out key national issues because if they do not do so, they would have lesser chances of being heard.
“Kapag pinanghihinaan tayo ng loob, lalo nating hinahayaan iyong mga pang-aabuso, lalo natin hinahayaan na mga ayaw natin nakikita lalong mamayagpag (When we feel discouraged, we further allow the abuses and the things we dislike to prevail),” she said.
Robredo, who was a human rights lawyer, has been very vocal against the suppression of press freedom following the conviction of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and the recent shutdown of broadcast network ABS-CBN.
She has also taken a firm stand against China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea despite the country’s ownership and sovereignty in the area.
Beyond voicing out issues, Robredo stressed the value of learning from history.
“Dapat iyong history natin, iyon ang teacher natin eh. Alam natin na maraming yugto sa kasaysayan natin na namayagpag din yun kasamaaan pero iyong pinaka-lesson sa akin sa kasaysayan hindi tatagal iyong mali (Our history is our teacher. We know many chapters in our history that evil had prevailed, but the main lesson for me in history, evil won’t last long),” she said.
“Pwede tayo iyong mahina ang boses ngayon pero kapag sigurado tayo na tama iyong ginagawa natin, dadating ang panahon, history will judge us (We may have weak voices now, but if we are sure on what we are doing is right, time will come history will judge us.),” she added.