Robredo visits AFP headquarters for security briefing

Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday paid a surprise visit to Camp Aguinaldo and was briefed by defense and military officials on the country’s internal and external security matters.

The briefing was held in the presence of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, according to a camp insider.

“Security briefings are based on current issues and meant to enlighten our leaders, especially now that we have fresh issues in the West Philippine Sea. She was updated about our operations,” the source said.

Robredo’s visit came in the wake of security issues concerning China’s missile deployment in three of its military outposts at the Kalayaan group of islands.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was mum about Robredo’s visit. It did not issue any media advisory or official statement on the matter.

Even Robredo’s stay at the camp for more than an hour was kept under wraps by the military which, according to the source, requested the Vice President not to issue a statement on the matter.

The source said the briefing lasted an hour and 10 minutes, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.

It was the second time for Robredo to be briefed by the military on the country’s security matters.

The first was in December at Villamor Air Base and presided over by then AFP chief and now Maritime Industry Authority head Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.

Three days ago, Robredo urged the Duterte administration to protest China’s installation of missile systems in the West Philippine Sea.

She warned the missile deployment violates the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as this contributes to regional instability and compromises the country’s security.

‘Uphold shading threshold’

Meanwhile, Robredo’s supporters yesterday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stand firm on the 25 percent shading threshold it had set for the 2016 polls.

The group, led by former Human Rights chair Etta Rosales, said the poll body should insist on the threshold, despite a ruling of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to use the 50-percent threshold in the protest case of former senator Bongbong Marcos against Robredo.

“With an outdated threshold in use, we fear that thousands of voters will be disenfranchised and the real choice of the people will not be heard,” said the group which includes Sr. Mary John Mananzan and Fr. Robert Reyes.

“Comelec should not waver, it should not abandon its position,” the group said in a letter to the poll body.

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