Marcos set to meet Leni in Naga: Will it go beyond ‘flood’ talk?
President Marcos will visit Naga on Saturday to inspect his administration’s “Oplan Kontra Baha” program there and meet with his two-time rival, former Vice President Leni Robredo, now the city’s mayor, Malacañang announced on Thursday.
Asked whether the talks between Mr. Marcos and Robredo would go beyond the antiflood control projects, Palace press officer Claire Castro said in a press briefing that she wasn’t told.
“That’s what you should watch out for,” she said. “That is the only information provided because the President is just starting the Oplan Kontra Baha, and one of the areas he is focusing on is Naga City. So, that’s all.”
“As for what else they will discuss, we’ll just have to wait and see,” she added.
The President and the mayor took part in the vice presidential debate organized by CNN on April 10, 2016, in the run-up to the national elections.
Mr. Marcos did not appear in the second debate organized by ABS-CBN, where Robredo famously predicted that after the election, “The last man standing is a woman.”
She narrowly defeated Mr. Marcos, who also lost his election protest against her.
The two faced off again as the main rivals in the 2022 presidential elections. Mr. Marcos refused to participate in the March 19, 2022, debate organized by the Commission on Elections, complaining that the debate format “sometimes is problematic” and that the “questions are the same.”
Mr. Marcos and his Uniteam running mate, Sara Duterte, won by a landslide.
After her defeat in the presidential race, Robredo continued to push her public service advocacy platform Angat Buhay.
A former representative of Camarines Sur before she ran for national office, Robredo ran and won the mayoral race in her hometown in last year’s midterm polls. She took the seat that was long held by her husband, the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.
Sorsogon meeting
The President and the mayor saw each other in person for the first time since the 2016 debate on Oct. 17, 2024, during the inauguration of the Sorsogon Sports Arena.
Robredo and Mr. Marcos were seen smiling at each other and exchanging pleasantries as they shook hands before the inauguration ceremony.
Then Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, a former Sorsogon governor, invited Robredo to welcome Mr. Marcos to the province.
Commenting on the brief encounter, the state-run Philippine News Agency quoted Escudero as saying that the meeting was the start of “healing of the wounds” between the two former political rivals.
Opposition luncheon
The scheduled meeting between the President and Robredo follows the former vice president’s luncheon reunion with her key allies whom she hasn’t gathered as a group since 2022, sparking talks of preparations for the 2028 national elections, where she is seen as a viable candidate again.
It will also come after Duterte announced that she would run for president in 2028.
Robredo and Duterte also had a meeting, when the Vice President visited Naga for her first Peñafrancia festival on Sept. 20, 2024.
The meeting lasted about an hour at Robredo’s house.
“The conversation was personal and not political,” said Barry Gutierrez, who was Robredo’s former vice presidential spokesperson.
Duterte’s office said one of her friends invited her to experience the festival and also arranged the “casual meeting” with her predecessor.
The visit to Naga also comes months after Mr. Marcos launched a campaign against ghost flood control projects in which politicians and contractors pocketed billions of pesos in kickbacks.
Naga’s flood woes
Naga itself has not been spared by floods during strong typhoons.
On Oct. 24, 2024, Robredo joined relief operations, wading in waist-deep floodwaters as Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine” (international name: Trami) whipped the city and many other parts of the country.
In a Facebook post shared by the nongovernment organization Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership, Robredo was seen accompanying volunteers as they handed out relief packs and drinking water to residents.
Her Angat Buhay Foundation raised over P31 million through the Kaya Natin! Movement and received P29.7 million worth of in-kind donations. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
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