A Sudden Conspicuous Silence

For someone who never misses an opportunity to speak up and grab media attention no matter how trivial the issue, Vice-President Leni Robredo's strange and conspicuous silence in the middle of the recent #lenileaks controversy could only mean one thing: tacit admission.

Either that or her office and PR handlers are still scrambling for ways to extricate her out of this mess [Collective: Incontrovertible Stupidity]. In light of her predicament, which doesn't look pretty however which way you look at it, a belated blanket denial will do nothing except fan the flames of popular outrage, with millions of social media netizens now expressing their blatant disgust for Leni's shameless duplicity.

She has repeatedly denied any involvement in the plot to oust the President, even going as far as saying that any such plot would not be good for the country [GMA].

This was yesterday, January 7, during one of her out of town visits to Iloilo.

Yet she was conspicuously silent about the #lenileaks issue, and stranger still though not completely surprising, mainstream media joined her in silence.

Nothing could be more dishonest. In front of the whole world she denies any involvement, but underneath the facade the Office of the Vice-President (OVP) is working closely with Loida Lewis' band of conspirators as clearly shown by the leaked communication documents [TP].

How in God's holy name can you possibly reconcile this shit?

Okay, if I were Leni's chief PR strategist what would I do?

Can we continue with the denial? No. It is clear that while Leni did not personally participate in the exchange of messages, complicity has been established due to the OVP's direct linkage with Loida Lewis' GFDC. We cannot deny the connection so completely denying any involvement would be futile.

Can we challenge the authenticity of the documents? Can we claim that they are fake and fabricated messages being spread by trolls in order to link the VP directly to the rumored ouster plots? No. Especially if the documents contain active phone numbers and email addresses directly attributable to the identified conspirators.

Can she disown any personal knowledge of this and point to Georgina as her scapegoat? Old man Enrile got away with it when he left his long-time aide and rumored girlfriend Gigi Reyes out in the cold. Evil... but possible. Only if you think that people are stupid enough to buy that crap.

Can she disassociate herself with Loida's group and pretend she knew nothing of their evil schemes? This way she'd be able to maintain her virginal image as the Immaculate Lady of Naga. Possible, but not without facing Loida's infinite wrath. If she does this, she can say goodbye to her last remaining hopes of ever becoming president [Collective: A Bitch called Karma]. Besides, Loida has already given her millions. No fucking way Loida would allow even the mere thought of this. There'll be hell to pay. And Leni will have to face the consequences of this just in case. Not only does she stand to lose her chances of becoming president, she'll lose all the moolah she earned just as well.

Kwarta na, naging De la Rosa pa.

Can we simply buy the media and block this shit out? Can she just keep her mouth shut and pretend as if the issue does not exist?

Well, given the fucked-up circumstances, it seems these are our only viable options. So fire away.

Pretty convenient huh? But you see Leni Robredo is fucked either which way she goes. Like her friend Leila De Lima, she'll suffer the collapse of her credibility if she does not own up to this issue and continue her refusal to speak out. "Silence gives consent. On the theory that an innocent man would loudly deny a serious charge, the rule holds that a suspect silent in the face of accusation has tacitly admitted the crime [Time]."

It also remains to be seen how long mainstream media will keep up with her. Media blackouts and cover ups are prohibitively expensive. Loida will have to literally shit cash in order to sustain this futile strategy [Collective: Buying Tranquility]. Since the proverbial excrement has already hit the fan, mainstream media's continued denial of this controversy will only lead to their inevitable demise, as more and more people will look into social media as a more credible means of getting raw, unbiased news.

Lastly, if she thinks the trio that constitutes her perennial scourge Mocha, Sass Sasot and Thinking Pinoy will surrender and give up out of sheer exhaustion she might as well dream she's in another planet. For as long as these three are around, Leni's tribulations will only get worse each and every single day. She'll have no option but to buy them as well.

Doing that, however, would be as fruitless as slamming a revolving door.