VICE President Leni Robredo confirmed that a schedule to meet with former President Benigno Aquino III by the Liberal Party membership is in the works with interim LP President and Senator Francis Pangilinan arranging the schedule.
Robredo who recently resigned as the Housing czar under President Rodrigo Duterte’s cabinet said this is the first time that the LP party will be holding a meeting among its members.
According to the Vice President, the LP leadership decided to call a meeting this coming January 2017 which is a few months earlier than the scheduled March 2017 meeting.
“Nag-usap na kami kasi iyong dating timetable, March pa magpapatawag ng meeting kaya lang sinuggest natin na agahan,” she said.
Robredo earlier admitted that there were only few members left under the LP as most of its members jumped to the PDP-Laban party of Duterte .
Robredo said it is important for the LP members to have a formal meeting in order for them to thresh out important issues and for them to be able to have an exchange of ideas and updates among its members.
Among the topics for discussion, according to Robredo, would be the common stand of the party with regards to controversial issues such as the death penalty, the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility and liability, and other issues such as sin taxes and even the possibility of constitutional change.
The LP, she insists must have a common party stand against the so-called controversial issues.
Since there is no clear party stand on the issues, Robredo said, members are deciding on their own view of the issues at hand, but there have been suggestions to form a policy body that will enlighten the membership on the issues especially on change of the Constitution towards federalism which is being pushed by the present administration.
As to the possible role of being the voice of the opposition, Robredo said that the matter should not be limited to the political party, but to unify the voices that bear on the various controversial issues facing the country and that tend to threaten the country’s democratic institutions.
Meanwhile, Robredo also expressed alarm on the reported rise of kidnapping for extortion affecting the Chinese community, aside from the extrajudicial killings that are affecting the poor communities and damaging the image of the country.
“The rise of criminal activities which include kidnapping for ransom and EJK has been damaging the country’s image abroad,” Robredo said as she expressed the need for the government to immediately act on this issue.
But Robredo said it is important to note that political partisanship is not the primary objective in the upcoming party meeting as she stressed the importance of helping the present government in attaining its objective to serve the Filipino people.
“The voice of the opposition need not be partisan nor should it be partisan because the success of the government and the country should be foremost.” Robredo said. (Sunnex)