MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo, who was often a subject of President Rodrigo Duterte's criticisms, said Tuesday she was wishing him the best in the 2022 elections should he decide to run as VP.

“Kung halimbawa tumakbo siya, manalo siya, ang wish ko lang sa kanya sana hindi niya pagdaanan ang pinagdaanan ko habang VP ako," Robredo told reporters during her office's vaccine express program.

(If he runs and wins as vice president, I only wish that he will not experience what I experienced during my term.)

Robredo has a frosty relationship with the President due to their opposing stands on critical issues like the West Philippine Sea, human rights and war on drugs, and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under Duterte's term, Robredo, among more than 30 critics, was charged with sedition, which she described in a 2019 Reuters interview as baseless and were attempts by the President's allies to crush dissent. The case has since been dismissed.

Duterte was also vocal about his support for the Marcos family, whose member Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was Robredo's opponent in the 2016 polls.

In March, Duterte also called out Robredo for supposedly baiting him to admit that he was secretly inoculated against COVID-19.

'LEGAL IMMUNITY'

Duterte on Saturday said he will run for vice president in next year’s elections if it means having legal immunity.

In his speech at the PDP-Laban’s national assembly at Royce Hotel and Casino at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, Duterte said he is aware of the lawsuits his critics plan to file after his 6-year term ends next year.

“They keep on threatening me with lawsuits and everything. (Former Senator Antonio) Trillanes and itong si (former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio) Carpio and his ilk. Panay ang takot sa akin na mademanda ako,” Duterte said.

“Sabi ng batas, kung presidente ka, bise presidente ka, may immunity ka. Eh di tatakbo na lang ako na bise presidente.

“And after that, tatakbo uli ako na bise presidente, at bise presidente, at bise presidente.”

(The law states that if you are president or vice president, you have immunity. If that is so, I will run as vice president.)

However, legal experts have said the vice president position does not make one immune from suit, "by law or by tradition."

- With reports from Adrian Ayalin and Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

RELATED STORY:

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv