News Roundup 31 May 2022
May 31, 2022 • 7 min Read
Robredo to cease being LP chairperson after term ends | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo will automatically cease being the chairperson of the formerly ruling Liberal Party once her term ends on June 30, party president Kiko Pangilinan and her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said Tuesday. “The moment that her term ends, she will automatically stop being chairperson of the Liberal Party. That’s clear,” Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez told ANC’s “Headstart.” “That is correct,” Pangilinan, Robredo’s running mate in the elections, told Philstar.com in a text message. “Traditionally, party leadership positions are reserved for the highest ranking elected officials.” But former Rep. Teddy Baguilat (Ifugao), who serves as LP’s vice president for internal affairs, said there is still no party decision on whether Robredo will remain the party’s chairperson after she steps down from office. “It’s going to be a party decision after consulting with her. But LP officers’ terms are not tied with their incumbency,” Baguilat told Philstar.com in a text message partly in Filipino. Still, Gutierrez said that Robredo will no longer be chairperson of the LP by June 30. “My understanding is that the party chair is the highest ranking elected official. On June 30, she will no longer be an elected official, so she will no longer be chair,” he said in a text message to Philstar.com. In the TV interview, Gutierrez said he still does not know if Robredo will resign from the LP after her term ends, when she plans to launch a non-government organization that will continue the programs she initiated under her office during her six-year term. “I think that’s something that has to be resolved soon. As to what LP is going to do, well, that’s something that should probably be asked to who will be the leader of the Liberal Party after June 30,” he said.
Fact check: Robredo’s recent US trip was not sponsored by Fil-Ams plotting against gov’t | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo had just arrived back in Manila over the weekend following a trip to the United States where she spent the past few weeks on vacation and to attend her youngest daughter’s college graduation.
CLAIM: A YouTube video claimed that Robredo’s US trip was sponsored by Filipino-Americans to plot against the Philippine government.
FACTS: Along with her three daughters, Robredo went to the United States on her own account to attend her youngest Jillian’s college graduation and to spend time with family. They did not entertain requests for meet-ups.
YouTube channel “Showbiz Fanaticz” published the video entitled, “ILANG FIL-AM, ROBREDO AT GUANZON MAY KINALAMAN SA PINAPLANONG MASAMA LABAN SA ADMINISTRASYON NI PRES. BBM” (Some Fil-Ams, Robredo, and Guanzon are conspiring against the administration of Pres. BBM), referring to former Commission on Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon. In the video, the vlogger identified as one Bryan Calagui said that Robredo, her camp, and Guanzon were planning to “ruin the government.” “‘Yung mga Fil-Am na nakatira sa Amerika ay sponsoran itong si ‘Len-Len’ na pumunta sa Amerika,” Calagui was shown saying in the first few seconds of the YouTube video. Robredo has been referred to by her crictics on social media as “Len-Len.” (These Fil-Ams who live in America are sponsoring this “Len-Len” to go to America.) The vlogger added “Len-Len,” a derisive nickname pro-administration supporters use to refer to the Vice President, is supposedly plotting something, and urged supporters of president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and vice president-elect Sara Duterte to prepare. Without providing pieces of evidence or links, he claimed that a “Philippines page” allegedly leaked information that Robredo met with a so-called “NAFA” in the US. Calagui claimed her visit there, along with accommodation expenses, were again sponsored by unnamed Filipino-Americans. “Ibig sabihin mga ka-BBM-Sara, hindi lang ‘yung pag-attend ni Len Len sa graduation ng kanyang anak, meron pang ibang binabalak,” he said. “For sure, may binabalak tong mga to, may niluluto ‘tong mga ‘to. At subukan niyong hanapin yung Philippines na page at makikita niyo dun na yung mga Fil-Am na nakatira sa Amerika ay i-sponsor-an itong si Len-Len na pumunta sa Amerika.” (Fellow BBM-Sara supporters, she did not just attend her daughter’s graduation, there were other plans made. For sure, these people are planning, trying to get something out. I urge you to look for the Philippines page and you will see that the Fil-Ams in America are sponsoring Leni to go there.) Calagui also spent quite some time mocking former Comelec Commissioner Guanzon’s “fighting spirit,” making fun of her doing one of her live Facebook streams. Robredo told supporters that they will not entertain requests to see other people, limiting their meet-ups during the trip in a Facebook post on May 14. “We are sorry if we cannot accept the numerous requests for meet-ups. We will do that some other time in the future. For now, we just need to spend as much time together,” Robredo wrote. Their trip came a few days after the 2022 national and local elections. Robredo told the public that she and her daughters will be taking “a well-deserved rest before all of us restart the lives we have put on hold.” Most of Robredo’s interactions with supporters during their less than two-week trip happened by chance. “I promised the girls that, for this trip, all my time will be devoted to them. So whatever lunches or dinners we’ve had with friends were all, somehow, connected to them,” Robredo wrote in a more recent Facebook post. Jillian Robredo, the vice-president’s youngest, obtained her double degree in Mathematics and Economics from New York University. Some of the few people they met with during the trip involved those who were instrumental in her college years. During Jillian’s graduation week, the Robredo family saw former NYU Dean of Science Michael Purungganan and Joan Maniego. The vice-president said the two Filipinos “helped Jillian and Xyza Bacani survive NYU.” Purunggan helped Jillian grab an opportunity when she was looking for scholarships, allowing Jillian to work as a lab assistant at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology throughout her college career. Robredo also thanked relatives “for being Jillian’s second parents in the US.”
AMLC reports ‘large amount of money withdrawn’ in Ilocos Sur, says Comelec’s Garcia | INQUIRER.NET – Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia on Tuesday bared that a “large amount of money” was withdrawn in Ilocos Sur, citing a vote buying report from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). Garcia made the disclosure during Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate electoral reforms committee as he reported the number of vote buying-related complaints received by the poll body. The Senate panel was assessing the recently concluded 2022 polls. According to Garcia, Comelec’s “Kontra Bigay” task force received 940 Facebook messages from individuals complaining of vote buying. The task force also received 171 emails while the Comelec’s law department received 105 reports, Garcia said. The Comelec law department has so far docketed 12 verified complaints. “That’s very much the tiny tip of the giant iceberg,” committee chairperson Senator Imee Marcos interjected. Garcia then went on to cite a report from AMLC. “There was one report from the Anti-Money Laundering Council on the large amount of money withdrawn. It’s in Ilocos Sur,” the Comelec commissioner said, eliciting laughter in the room where the hearing is conducted. “Di ako yun a. Kapitbahay ko yun [That’s not me. That’s my neighbor],” Marcos, in response, said in jest. Marcos previously served as governor of Ilocos Norte, the neighboring province of Ilocos Sur. Meanwhile, Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan proposed “stiffer penalties” against those found guilty of vote buying. “We would like to propose stiffer penalties for vote buying because this has been well-entrenched in every locality in the country and we should also work hard for the prosecution and possible conviction of these vote buyers,” Pangarungan told the committee.
