Vice President Leni Robredo is willing to work with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte should the Robredo-Sara (RoSa) movement becomes successful in making the two women officials win as President and Vice President in the May 2022 polls.
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez told CNN’s “The Source” that although the Vice President prefers her running mate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan to win, she is aware that voters may want “different configurations” come election day and vote for another vice-presidential candidate instead.
"The Vice President has also been very clear. Regardless of who is elected and, of course, right now, we are doing everything in our power to ensure that that will be Sen. Kiko Pangilinan who will take his oath as vice president come June 30 of this year," Gutierrez said.
"But regardless of who gets elected, she will be willing to work with the person who the people choose as the vice president,” he noted.
The RoSa movement was officially launched by Representatives Jose Maria Salceda and Rufus Rodriguez and Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco.
Gutierrez said they were informed of the public announcement before it was made but “it was more of an FYI (for your information) more than anything else.”
Recognizing that Salceda, Rodriguez, and Climaco were some of the first incumbent government officials who declared their support to Robredo’s presidential bid, her spokesman said she “will always be thankful for that.”
READ: Salceda doubles down on ‘RoSa’ tandem; suggests 3 development plans for the pair
Despite working hard to push for Pangilinan, who’s lagging behind Duterte and Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, in surveys, Gutierrez insisted that victory in the elections is not a matter of comfort or personal preference for Robredo.
"The Vice President has been very open to the idea that whoever gets elected as the next vice president, if it's Mayor Sara, then it's Mayor Sara. She will work with her to find a niche where she will be most effective in contributing her own talents and her own experiences to government," he said, adding that the Vice President has proved in the past six years that she gets things done no matter the roadblocks.
The spokesman is also confident the two lady officials can work together.
"Given their record of service in government they might have a different style but at the end of the day, both of them have proven that they have what it takes to actually perform as public servants," Gutierrez said of Robredo and the presidential daughter.
"I don't think there will be a problem. Being a vice president, after all, to a large extent, means being able to find a niche where you can be most effective," he added.
If they win, Robredo will also not allow Duterte to go through her experiences as a vice president when she was shunned away from the President’s Cabinet and became an “outsider looking in.”
“Definitely, that’s not something she wants to happen to the next vice president,” Gutierrez stressed.
Robredo and Duterte are no strangers. During the height of the 2016 campaign season for national candidates, the two were photographed having a quick meal in a carinderia in Davao City.