Malacanang on
Tuesday (May 31) said the decision of newly-proclaimed President Rodrigo
Duterte not to give Vice President-elect Leni Robredo a Cabinet position should
be respected.
”We should
respect his decision, even that pertaining to VP-elect Robredo,” Presidential
Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.
Duterte
reportedly said his priority is to give the Cabinet posts to the people whom he
can trust and can help his administration.
The incumbent
Davao City mayor said it never crossed to his mind that he will give Robredo
“any position in the Cabinet.”
”It is
President-elect Duterte’s right to choose who will compose his Cabinet,” Coloma
said.
Last Monday,
the Congress, sitting as the national board of canvassers, proclaimed Duterte
and Robredo as winners of the presidential and vice presidential elections last
May 9.
After her
proclamation, Robredo promised to work harder even without a Cabinet post.
”I understand
him because a Cabinet secretary is the President’s alter ego. He has no
obligation to appoint me to any Cabinet position. Although that is always an
option,” the Camarines Sur congresswoman said.
Robredo, a
widow of former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo who died in a plane crash in
August 2012, was the candidate of the ruling Liberal Party but her running mate
president Mar Roxas lost in the presidential race.
Duterte and
Robredo who edged Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos by only more than 200,000
votes, will assume their six-year term starting July 1. (PNA)
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