by Kyla Camille, ExecutiveChronicles.com |
Pasig City Representative and Senatorial Candidate Roman Romulo finds Rep. Leni Robredo’s recent statements “perplexing” on raising doubts on Sen. Grace Poe’s patriotism, after all the passionate courting by LP to convince the popular senator to be the vice-presidential candidate of its less popular presidential bet Mar Roxas.
No less than President Benigno Aquino III had tried but failed to get Poe’s approval after several rounds of meetings. It’s the same for Roxas, whose repeated attempts to convince Poe proved to be inutile until he decided to settle for Robredo.
“I find Rep. Robredo’s comments quite perplexing considering that her own party, led by the President and LP bet Mar Roxas, aggressively wooed Sen. Poe to be Mar’s running mate before ultimately deciding to give up and settle for the lady from Camarines Sur,” said Roman, who belongs to the administration party.
“The LP did not question Sen. Grace’s patriotism when they invited her to run in their Senate slate in 2013, neither did they question it again when they tried to convince her as the party’s vice-presidential bet. So why are these questions now?” he pointed out.
This is not the first time that Robredo, LP and Roxas have had differences on key issues. Robredo once said she was for tax cuts as opposed to Roxas’ position against tax cuts or government services would be slashed in order to cushion the impact of the projected losses in revenues.
On the controversial issue of “tanim-bala” (bullet-planting), the LP tandem also held opposing positions. Robredo was pushing to decriminalize possession of bullets, while Roxas said the government should not be faulted if a passenger was caught with a bullet.
At the same time, Romulo said he was disappointed with Robredo’s limited view of patriotism, which raises the possibility of depriving returning Filipinos based overseas the chance to serve the country if they wish to do so in the future.
“I believe that Rep. Robredo failed to grasp the implications of her ill-advised statements when she questioned Sen. Poe’s love of country. Yes, some OFWs are not running for president, but what if they decide to? Will Leni and the LP deny these Filipinos, who only want to improve their lot, the right to seek public office because at one point in their lives they chose to live abroad? I think this is incredibly unfair to those we consider our modern-day heroes,” Romulo said.
