When Leni meets the VP

What was the bratinella thinking?

O ye of little faith. Of course Vice President Sara Duterte was in Naga City last week for the Feast of our Lady of Peñafrancia.

If she wasn’t a Peñafrancia devotee, then perhaps the VP is now. Or at least she probably wanted the company of the multitudes who sustained tradition and flocked to Naga for the annual festival. It couldn’t have been a visit in aid of election; the VP isn’t running in the 2025 polls.

Bicol is my mother’s home region and I’ve attended the Peñafrancia. The joyous religious fervor and camaraderie are contagious, and can be comforting for someone needing solace amid inner turmoil.

One thing Barry Gutierrez is sure of: VP Sara didn’t discuss politics, much less an alliance, when she dropped in at a moment’s notice at the home of Naga City’s political kingpin, Leni Robredo.

Gutierrez was Robredo’s spokesman when she was the vice president. Over the weekend he was busy fielding questions about what the two women discussed, and parrying criticisms from certain quarters notably former senator Antonio Trillanes that the visit was Duterte gimmickry that Robredo should have ignored.

Facing “Storycon” on One News last Monday, Gutierrez admitted feeling that Robredo had been “used” by VP Sara to change the narrative about her, which is currently focused on her alleged misuse of public funds and bratinella ways.

Granted this is true, however, and even if VP Sara practically barged into the Robredo home, it would have been impolite and bratty for Robredo to have refused to see the VP. Robredo did what any civilized, Christian and hospitable Filipino would have done, especially while her turf was hosting a religious festival: she welcomed friend and foe alike.

Having served as VP, Robredo surely also has respect for the office, and she showed this to her successor. Over the weekend, Robredo said her chats with Peñafrancia visitors, among them Senate hopeful Benhur Abalos and reelectionist Sen. Bong Revilla, were politically neutral.

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Trillanes has long been critical of Robredo, slamming her for taking her sweet time deciding whether she would run for the presidency in 2022 and effectively scuttling