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| VP Leni Robredo dances with Vice Governor Romulo Bacorro, Jr. of Marinduque as part of the Putong welcome ceremony earlier today |
In an interview in Marinduque, Robredo said she is not part of the Yahoo! group of the Global Filipino Diaspora Council, now under fire for emails posted on social media that allegedly showed exchanges between some US-based supporters of the Liberal Party .
"Hindi ko alam kung ano ang participation ko. Nami-mention daw ang pangalan ko, pero hindi ako kabahagi nu'ng grupong iyon," she said. "Mayroon din daw e-mails na nagsi-circulate. Wala, hindi rin ako kabahagi doon."
In television interview, Robredo's spokesperson, Georgina Hernandez, said that the leaked e-mails came from "an independent group."
"This isn't linked to the OVP (Office of the Vice President)," she said.
She also noted that "the so-called leaked information came from a public Yahoo! group account."
"There is transparency in the information and there should be no malice," Hernandez said.
No meeting in America
Robredo, meanwhile, said the issue is not completely clear to her at this time because she has been away on field visits to Bicol, which began after her family trip to the US for the holidays.
By the "bits and pieces" she has heard, she said it was "not surprising" that her name was floated in the said exchanges because she is the vice president.
"Mayroon tayong mga supporters na karamihan nagri-react din sa ginagawang pambibiktima sa atin. Tayo ang nasa receiving end ng napakaraming fake na news, napakaraming hindi tama na mga kuwento. Ito yata ang reaksyon doon," she said.
"Pero sa akin, as much as possible, gusto ko sanang mag-concentrate sa trabaho, kasi ang tingin ko lang, ang daming viciousness ngayon sa internet. Mayroon kaming mandatong kailangang gampanan, na kung magpapadala kami sa kasamaan na nangyayari online, paano namin magagampanan ang aming mandato?" she added.
During the interview, Robredo also denied being in touch recently with Filipino-American philatropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis, a known LP supporter who was part of the leaked e-mails.
"Nakausap ko po siya napakatagal nang panahon. Hindi ko po alam kung before the campaign or during the campaign, before po yata. Before the campaign," she said.
"Pero after the elections, noong ako po ay nanalo na, hindi ko po maalala kung nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na nag-meet kami. Sinasabi pong nag-meet daw kami sa Amerika, hindi po iyon totoo," she added.
"Ni personal meeting, ni tawag sa telepono, hindi po kami nagtawagan o nag-meet sa Amerika. Kaya 'yung kumakalat na balita hindi po iyon totoo," she went on. —By ROSE-AN JESSICA DIOQUINO, ALG, GMA News
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