Vice President Leni Robredo assured that there is no infighting in the opposition Liberal Party and that they are, in fact, recruiting non-politicians to push for their advocacies.
“Kakaunti kami. Kung mag-aaway kami, ewan ko na lang. Okay kami, alam mo naman na after 2016 talagang halos na-decimate iyong Liberal (There’s very few of us. If we are going to fight, I just don’t know with us. We’re okay, you know after the 2016 elections, the Liberal got decimated),” she said on her weekly radio show with radioman Ely Saludar.
Aside from Robredo, only a handful of elected politicians stayed with the Liberal Party after the 2016 national polls.
The vice president said they understand that some of their members have jumped ship to the ruling political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), so their constituents won’t suffer. Other members also joined other political parties.
But the good thing about the Liberal Party is they started recruiting non-politicians. “So marami kaming galaw na hindi konektado sa eleksyon, mas konektado siya sa mga paniniwala (So we’re doing many things that are not connected to the elections, they are more connected to our beliefs).”
“Maganda siya kasi ang napapag-usapan hindi eleksyon pero ang napapag-usapan iyong mga paniniwala at saka ano iyong gagawin para isulong iyong mga paniniwala (It’s good because what we’re talking about is not the elections, but we’re talking about what we believe in and what we can do to push for these beliefs),” Robredo said.
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The vice president is not worried, though, that LP has less clout than the other political parties. She said the same thing happened before the late former President Benigno Aquino III became president.
The sad thing about Philippine politics, she said, is the fact that if you’re not from the ruling party, you and your constituents will suffer.
“So para sa akin, Ka Ely, dapat baguhin natin iyon. Dapat iyong pagsasali sa partido, para sa paniniwala talaga, eh. Hindi iyong expediency, hindi iyong convenience (So for me, Ka Ely, we should change that. Joining a party should be about your beliefs. It shouldn’t about expediency, not about convenience),” Robredo added.
The Liberal Party has yet to announce who it will field for the presidency next year, though it is widely believed they are waiting for the decision of Robredo.