Robredo: Possible Cabinet appointment for Marcos ‘scary’

Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday said a Cabinet position may afford former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. the chance to commit anew the abuses his family has been accused of.

In a television interview, Robredo said such possibility is “scary” given that the Marcoses “have not paid for what they did to the country.”

She issued the comment amid an online report that Marcos, who narrowly lost the vice presidency in the May 2016 polls, would take over as Interior secretary after the one-year appointment ban for losing candidates.

Earlier this week, even Interior Secretary Mike Sueno said that he is ready to be replaced if that would be the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“We serve at the pleasure of the President. It is within his power, wisdom and discretion to appoint members of his Cabinet,” Sueno said in a press statement on Wednesday.

“With the information being floated about the change at the helm of the DILG, I take no offense whatsoever. It is business as usual for me as I dispense my duties and functions with the blessings of President Duterte,” he added.

In the television interview, Robredo said such talk “has been there as early as the inauguration.”

“It’s always the President’s privilege who to appoint in his Cabinet, but my concern here is that the Marcoses have not paid for what they did to the country,” she said.

“There have been several decisions already asking them to pay back whatever they got from the government, whatever they got from the people. But these judgments have not been satisfied yet,” she added.

“And now he’s aiming for a Cabinet position and for me, that’s scary in the sense that he will be given an opportunity to do what they did,” Robredo went on.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the Marcos camp but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time.

The Marcos family is accused of human rights abuses and amassing government funds during the term of its patriarch, the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), an agency formed to recover the ill-gotten wealth, said late last year that there are more than 200 pending cases on the estimated $10-billion loot.

This includes decades-old cases over Swiss accounts, properties and assets, jewelry sets, and artworks. — RSJ, GMA News