Marcos will never win his electoral protest — Robredo camp

This, after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. on Thursday, August 16, said the President might make true his words to resign if Marcos will win his electoral case. (File Photo: Bongbong Marcos/Facebook)

President Rodrigo Duterte will not have to consider stepping down from his post as former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos will fail to win his electoral protest against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, the latter’s camp said.

This, after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. on Thursday, August 16, said the President might make his words true of resigning if Marcos will win his electoral case.

“Insofar as we are concerned, President Duterte’s resignation will never happen because Mr Marcos will never win his electoral protest,” Romulo Macalintal, Robredo’s lead lawyer, said on the same day

It was on Tuesday, August 14, when Duterte, the oldest Philippine president to be elected, announced that he “had enough” and is ready to resign from his presidency only if someone like Marcos and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero would succeed him in office because he believes that Robredo, his Constitutional successor, is not capable of running a country.

In his press briefing, Roque said what the President expressed was a “real statement of exasperation and a real genuine wish to step down if there is a better leader or if there is a qualified leader to take over.”

“He has said that he thinks Senator Bongbong Marcos is one of the better and qualified leaders to succeed him,” the Spokesman stressed.

This is not the first time Duterte has belittled Robredo’s capabilities of being a leader.

The President, in July, said he would not resign because it would only make Robredo the president. He said the Vice President could not govern a country like the Philippines because she is ‘incompetent.’

Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s legal adviser, lambasted Duterte as he slammed some of the presidential appointees in the Department of Tourism (DOT), National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), and the National Food Authority (NFA).

“Mga ‘competent’ ayon sa Pangulo: Tourism Sec[retary] na walang ginawa kundi mangurakot, NDRRMC head na nawawala kapag baha, NFA chief na naubusan ng bigas. Kanya na ‘yung endorsement niya, sumunod na lang tayo sa Konstitusyon (The ‘competent’ people according to the President: Tourism secretary who is corrupt, NDRRMC head who is missing in times of flooding, and the NFA chief who ran out of rice. He should just keep his endorsement to himself, let’s follow the Constitution),” Gutierrez said on Wednesday, August 15.