It is very apparent that, up until this time that she is now the second highest official of the land, VP Leni Robredo is still rough around the edges.
Any layman can tell. Her responses to ambush interviews are starkly different to a well-staged press conference her handlers conduct. In the former, she would blush and grope for the right words but in the latter, she is well-poised and appears ready to go into battle anytime, anywhere.
Leni’s knee-jerk reactions to diatribes that come her way display her amateurish bearings. She cannot separate the chaff from the grain, so to speak.
The Liberal Party to which she belongs, is clearly baby-sitting her, careful not to stir the childish tantrums that usually are part of the job. Was she not a reluctant candidate when the LPs were scouting for the best choice the party would partner with 2016 presidential candidate Mar Roxas? She played hard-to-get to a point that her reluctance and hesitation became the subject of media spins to generate front page media space.
Fast forward.
Once a shy, blushing, bus-traveling first termer in Congress, Leni Robredo is definitely a political star that glows and glows and glows.
Leni, whatever political pundits think and say, is now the LP’s biggest bet for the 2022 presidential derby. That is, if she is not unseated by losing VP rival Bongbong Marcos in his protest the latter formally filed with the Comelec.
Or if she is not stabbed in the back by his partymates.
The widow of former DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo should, by now, realize that her political future hinges not so much on the support her party extends to her, but on how she could face up to the challenges before her.
Leni should not allow herself to be kowtowed into believing that the LP made her. She should wizen up to the theatrics by acknowledged party leaders who are predictably using her as a battering ram against the Duterte government, much like when attacking Vikings storm an enemy’s fortified castle.
Leni may be aware of this chicanery but at this point in time, she is unable to parry it. In her mind, she is indebted to them and this thought of gratitude haunts her. She somewhat has to return the favor to have a peace of mind.
I don’t know if the VP has a firm grasp of Philippine political history. But if she does, Leni might be able to see through the maze and survive the infecting pollution from within and without, and eventually come out unscathed in the process.
The former congresswoman from Naga City has six full years to observe and develop a keen political sense that is similar to the unyielding fortitude of Diosdado Macapagal and Ferdinand Marcos who faced great, overwhelming odds on their way to their successful, though separate, bids for the presidency.
Pardon this deadline beater but from a distance, I think Leni is allowing herself to be pushed around by old-timers in the party.
While the next presidential combat is still many, many summer moons away, many of her fellow LP leaders, whose individual credibility have ebbed because of Duterte-mania, are not now being talked about as serious contenders for the top post. Short of dubbing them has-beens, I think Leni has really over-shadowed them by virtue of her unexpected come-from-behind victory in the vice-presidential contest.
VP Leni should learn to be the master of her fate and the captain of her soul.
I recall a Nigerian proverb, attributed to an unknown author, that goes: “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams.” (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) God bless the Philippines!
