Duterte non-committal on Cabinet post for Leni: I don't want to hurt Bongbong

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte remains "non-committal" about giving his incoming vice president Leni Robredo a post in his official family.

During his press conference in Davao City on Tuesday night, Duterte said that he won’t promise to appoint Robredo to his Cabinet owing to his relationship with Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. as well as her being a member of the Liberal Party.

“Alam mo, wala ako talaga. I am non-committal ako diyan. You know why? Kilala ko si Bongbong Marcos, I do not want to hurt him. Si Leni, she should understand that she belongs to the opposite side. There is no law that exists that is a compelling reason for her to be a member of the Cabinet,” he said.

Robredo edged out Marcos for the vice presidency by a slim margin. The Marcos camp is still mulling whether to file a formal protest to try to overturn the result.

Meanwhile, Duterte said no meeting between him and Robredo has been set yet.

“Baka maghingi siya. Speculative," he said. 

Pressed about what role in his Cabinet he thinks is fit for Robredo, Duterte just replied: "We are still studying the script of the movie."

Robredo earlier expressed support for Duterte despite some differences in their views.

Duterte, meanwhile, denied that he is planning to give Marcos a Cabinet post after the yearlong ban on appointments for losing candidates.

"No. He never asked for it," he replied. 

Later pressed to explain his relationship with Marcos, Duterte said that their families have been political allies since their fathers' time.

"Gusto mo talagang malaman? Kaibigan ko si Marcos... That is the political reality. Do you know that my father was a Cabinet member of the late father?" he said.

Duterte's father, Vicente, was the governor of the undivided Davao from 1959 to 1969; while his late mother, Soledad, led the Davao's Yellow Friday Movement against late President Ferdinand Marcos. 

The president-elect also pointed out that he did well in Marcos' bailiwick in northern Luzon. "And besides, I won sa Ilocos Norte. Tignan mo na lang ang resulta sa Pilipinas kung saan ako natalo. Miserably," he said.

Asked if he lost miserably in the Bicol Region, Robredo's bailiwick, Duterte just frowned.

Duterte added that the healing and reconciliation he call for right after election day did not need appointing Robredo to a Cabinet post. 

"There is no compelling reason for me to accommodate the Vice President. I’m sorry. I have said I have to take into account not only iyong ngayon na magkaiba ang partido namin, I said, the political alliances between me, my family, and the family of Bongbong. In the beginning, alam ko na kahit hindi ko siya kandidato, Duterte talaga sila. It was Mrs. [Imelda] Marcos who insisted on it," he said. — JST/DVM, GMA News