Robredo on her daughters: They’re outspoken and rightfully so

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 20) — Vice President Leni Robredo decried the bullying of her daughters after their tweets were put on the spotlight during a Malacañang briefing for supposedly asking for President Rodrigo Duterte's whereabouts in the aftermath of Typhoon Ulysses.

“Ngayon, ang binubully mga anak ko (Now, it’s my daughters who are being bullied),” Robredo said in a Facebook post Thursday night.

She did not specify any incident, but it was posted hours after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque defended Duterte’s rants against her. Duterte claimed that Robredo questioned his whereabouts during last week's super typhoon and warned her against competing with the administration’s disaster response.

Roque in a media briefing on Thursday said that while Robredo herself may not be part of the trending #NasaanAngPangulo (Where is the President?) tweets, her daughters were. The Palace official then showed a Twitter exchange between Robredo’s daughters Tricia and Aika, wherein they alluded to someone who’s still asleep on a Saturday morning despite the calamity. They did not name anyone.

The Vice President stressed that her daughters “are their own persons” and that she has always been proud of their hard work and accomplishments.

“Totoo (It’s true), they’re outspoken and rightfully so. We have trained them to stand up for themselves and what they believe in,” Robredo said.

“They’re all adults now," she added. "They’re not in government. They are not politicians and they don’t plan to be.”

When calls to rescue trapped Cagayan residents flooded social media last Friday night, netizens clamored for updates on the national government’s response. Not seeing any, Robredo provided information on her Twitter page and coordinated distress calls.

Duterte later spewed false accusations that Robredo made unauthorized orders to the Armed Forces and questioned his absence, things that the VP had debunked, speculating that the President was being fed wrong information.

LIST: Robredo debunks Duterte admin's false claims on typhoon efforts