So went Leni Robredo’s response on Saturday refuting a post which claimed that the Naga City mayor has been missing in her office and has been traveling to Manila in secret.
The former Vice President reposted on her Facebook page the post by a certain ‘Niko Perez’ which also called Robredo ‘Leni Liar.’
‘We thought she was in Naga and there was even a post about an early morning visit. When [we went] looking for her in the office, she was in Manila after all,’ claimed the post in Filipino which has since been taken down.
Robredo said the troll, which is using ‘an assumed name,’ has been operating since last year when she ran for mayor of Naga.
‘Someone else used to handle it [but] it’s different now. According to reports, a local politician is funding this,’ Robredo said in Filipino.
‘It became very obvious who this is because this politician was now being attacked upon taking on another rival,’ she also said, adding that she has also been targeted after she inspected a ‘substandard’ project.
‘Waste of time’
Robredo said she doesn’t usually respond to trolls because they’re a ‘waste of time.’ But someone who she ‘holds in very high esteem’ convinced her to challenge the claims in that post which was ‘apparently posted last Wednesday.’
‘I was supposed to attend a Mayors League Meeting in Cebu,’ the Naga mayor explained further. ‘This would have been my first time to attend since [San Juan City] Mayor Francis Zamora asked me to be present when they appoint me as Adviser for Intergovernmental Affairs. I even went to my office from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. that Wednesday. I left at 9 [a.m.] to go to the airport, but the flight was canceled, so I returned to the office after lunch, and the whole day of Thursday I was also in the office.’
‘I took the bus to Manila on Thursday evening to attend the [scheduled] meetings with QC (Quezon City) government and Comelec (Commission on Election) yesterday, Friday,’ she continued. ‘I don’t go to Manila every week. My schedule is once a month and usually, I go on Thursday or Friday so I can spend the Saturday with my daughters, two of whom are here in Manila. I’m back in Naga by Sunday. This is easily verifiable because I post [my activities] every day.’
She added that in her monthly visits to Manila, she would seek assistance from national government agencies and private partners regarding local projects.
The mayor also clarified that her trips to Manila have become more regular due to meetings called by agencies or wedding invitations from Naga residents getting married in Manila.
Robredo said her travel expenses have never been deducted from Naga’s budget. ‘Even official trips are NEVER charged as travel expenses to the City Government,’ she said. ‘In fact, we are preparing [a] report to respond to a request to post the travel expenses of all elected city officials.’
When not taking the bus, Robredo said she uses her daughter Aika’s old Tucson bought in 2012 but still in very good condition, adding that her gasoline expenses are not paid by the city government. INQ