LIBERAL PARTY, ROBREDO OUT OF TUNE ON GRACE POE

       The Liberal Party (LP) and its vice presidential candidate, Rep. Leni Robredo find themselves singing different tunes, this time on how they weigh in on issues confronting presidential frontrunner Sen. Grace Poe.

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo raised this point in the light of the statements issued by Robredo, raising doubts on Poe’s patriotism, despite the passionate courting done by the LP to convince the popular senator to be the vice-presidential candidate of Mar Roxas, who has trailed Poe in surveys.

     No less than President Benigno Aquino III had tried but failed to get Poe’s approval to join the LP slate after several rounds of meetings. It was the same for Roxas, who settled for Robredo after his repeated attempts to convince Poe proved to be futile.

    “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, but is running for senator under Poe’s Galing at Puso team.“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 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 which was contrary to Roxas’ position against tax cuts.

On the controversial issue of “tanim-bala” (bullet-planting), the LP tandem also held opposing views. Robredo favored to decriminalize possession of bullets, while Roxas said, 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 overseas-based Filipinos 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?s I think this is incredibly unfair to those we consider our modern-day heroes,” Romulo stressed./MP