Hands-on mom Leni helps daughter Aika settle in US: Vice President Leni Robredo makes a side trip to

By Patty Pasion MASSACHUSETTS, USA --- Vice President Leni Robredo squeezed in mother duties after a speaking engagement in Los Angeles, as she flew to Massachusetts to check on her eldest daughter, Aika. Robredo posted photos of her and Aika, who is an incoming graduate student of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as an Edward S. Mason fellow. “I had a speaking engagement in LA during the weekend and decided to fly to Boston right after to help Aika settle in. It was a very hectic two days for both of us as we fixed and cleaned her apartment inside the campus,” the Vice President wrote in her public Facebook post. “Except for a meeting with United Way Foundation this afternoon to explore a possible partnership with our Angat Buhay program, I was a full-time mother once again,” she added. Prior to her Boston side trip, the Vice President attended the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO) Gala 2017, where she delivered a speech. The trip was sponsored by the group that hosted her. Robredo went to the US unannounced last Thursday, June 15. Her trip coincided with the time President Rodrigo Duterte stayed out of the public eye for 5 days. Some of Robredo’s critics have questioned the timing of her trip. So far, the Office of the Vice President has not issued a statement responding to critics. Robredo is scheduled to return to Manila on Thursday, June 22. In her first year in office, the Vice President has visited the US twice. First was a trip to Pennsylvania in July 2016 to visit the Filipino community there. Second was a family gathering for the holidays that coincided with a destructive typhoon that affected her hometown in Camarines Sur. Her online critics spread malicious rumors, claiming Robredo met with philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis to allegedly plot the destabilization of the Duterte administration. Robredo has since denied this. – Rappler.com Inside Track is Rappler’s intelligencer on people, events, places and everything of public interest. It’s a take-off from Newsbreak’s Inside Track section. Contributions are most welcome. Just send bits of information to investigative@rappler.com.