By Raymund Antonio

Vice President Leni Robredo is set to leave on Tuesday night for Sydney, Australia to attend a series of engagements, including a speech before the Australia-Philippines Business Council.

Vice presidential spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said Robredo will deliver the keynote address at the event on Wednesday, October 10.

“I believe she will be talking about women and business. That would be her topic,” Gutierrez told reporters in a media briefing at the Quezon City Reception House.

While she is in Sydney, Gutierrez said Robredo will also meet the Filipino community there.

The Vice President was supposed to give a statement about the latest development in the election protest she is facing before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), but she had to leave early for her flight.

The PET, composed of 14 Supreme Court justices, deferred again for the second time this month its action on the protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against Robredo.

The PET decided to reset the deliberation and voting on the electoral protest to October 15.

Before she departed, Robredo posted a video message on Facebook to thank her supporters who gathered outside the SC in Manila and other parts of the country pending the release of the PET decision.

Members of various sectoral groups led by Bantay Nakaw Coalition held simultaneous activities in Baguio, Cebu, Naga, Manila, Cotabato, and Cagayan de Oro.

“Ito po laban lang tayo. Gaya ng sinasabi natin mula umpisa, sa huli parati namang tama at totoo iyong mananaig. Kaya manalig po tayo, magdasal tayo na iyong katotohanan ang lumabas. Maraming salamat po, iyon aking taos-pusong pasasalamat sa inyong suporta,” she said.

(We are going to fight. Like what I’ve said since the beginning, the truth and what is right will prevail at the end. So let us have faith, let us pray the truth will come out. Thank you very much, my heartfelt thanks for your support.)

Gutierrez made clear the government did not shoulder the expenses of Robredo’s trip to Sydney.

“The trip is not going to cause the taxpayers anything. This was not charged to her office,” Robredo’s spokesman said.

The Vice President will be back in the Philippines on Saturday, October 12.