Vice President Leni Robredo must face the realities of lagging behind survey results when she finally decides on her political plans for next year.
Robredo said during her guesting on the weekly online show #ChooseDay Tuesday on June 1 that she has to contend with the realities that not many people know what she does as vice president.
“Ang reality kasi and the survey showed that hindi ganun kadami ang tao na alam iyong ginagawa namin. So, maraming tao ang hindi appreciative of me (The reality is and the survey showed that not many people know what we are doing. So, a lot of people are not appreciative of me),” Robredo told #ChooseDay hosts, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, Cesca Litton-Kalaw, and Pia Magalona.
“When the surveys started coming in na sinasabi wala akong ginagawa, lahat dito sa opisina parang offended kasi ang mga tao dito hindi nagpapahinga (telling that I am not doing anything, everyone here in the office were offended because the people here don’t rest anymore),” she added.
But she knows that it’s not the people’s fault that they don’t know what her office does.
Robredo said this is a “product of the system,” particularly of the political atmosphere of having a populist leader in President Duterte.
The vice president also mentioned that disinformation in social media blind people to what she has been doing for the past five years.
Robredo knows that people who do not like her feels that way because they thought she hasn’t done anything as the country’s second-highest official.
Although she feels grateful that her supporters would go out of their way to defend her, she understands the “reality” that many more don’t make an effort to know her works.
Recent presidential surveys showed her lagging behind on the fifth spot with presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio taking the top spot, followed by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and Senators Grace Poe and Manny Pacquiao.
Since she took office in 2016, her Angat Buhay program has alleviated the lives of people in the grassroots level. During the pandemic, she launched and implemented several COVID-19 response programs, including the Swab Cab and the Bayanihan e-Konsulta, among others.
But Robredo said she isn’t closing her doors to politics because she wants to be in the realm of public service “whether elected, whether appointed.”
“Ako naman, iyong sense of duty ko naman mataas, so ang gusto kong sabihin hindi ko papairalin iyong personal na gusto ko. Kung kailangan, gagawin (For me, my sense of duty is high, so what I’m trying to say is I will not follow what I want personally. If I need to do it, I will),” she added.
The vice president explained that even if she wants to retire from politics and even if her daughters want her to spend more time with them, she would do what she’s called to do.
Robredo has never revealed her political plans for next year, although she’s open to either seeking the presidency or running as governor of her home province of Camarines Sur.