UNVEILED

Cover Up

9:00 P.M   Quezon City

VP Leni is in her room already, facing a lot of documents and reports, as usual. Her television in her room is open. She listens while studying documents and sometimes glance at the monitor once in a while. Despite the heaps of documents and reports she needs to attend to, she still watches every press briefing of the President religiously. She wants to be updated and, well, see her love even on screen only.

"Alam man ninyo, napakstressful man ng mga araw ngayon. 'Andaming dapat isipin ba. Mabuti na lang kapag gabi may nagmamasahe man, nakakatanggal man ng pagod. Maganda talaga bang may dyowa ka, may babe time palagi. Pero paktay man ako sa kanya bukas dahil sa pinagsasabi ko ngayon", Digong was jesting with his Cabinet members.

Leni automatically raise her head and focused on the tv screen.

"Paktay ka talaga sa akin, Rodrigo ka! Siguraduhin mo lang na ako yang tinutukoy mo diyan, kung hindi lagot ka talaga", Leni said to herself. She was about to return to the paper she was srudying when she heard that Digong continued on making a joke on national tv.

"Pero totoo, masaya talaga ang may dyowa. Pwera lang 'pag tinotopak ang babae, p**a, mahaba habang suyuan man ba", Digong jested.

"Ah, talaga ba, Rodrigo? Pahirapan kaya kita sa pagsuyo muli", Leni was talking to herself.

"...sa umaga man, gusto ko yakap yakap man saglit pero ayaw niya dahil malelate kami".

Leni smiled when she heard this. Naalala niya na palagi ngang naglalambing si Digong tuwing umaga. Gusto nito na "yakap yakap" muna sila. Pumapayag naman siya pero saglit na lang dahil mahuhuli na silang pareho sa pagpasok.

"...sinabi ko man na 'wag na siyang pumasok sa opisina at sabihin niya sa opisinang ako ang nagsabi na huwag na siyang pumasok pero iniirapan lang ako".

Leni smiled again. She finds Digong's blabbering cute. Parang nagsusumbong lang sa mga kaibigan.

"...marami man siya talagang trabaho. Marami pa raw siyang trabaho na naghihintay sa kanya sa OVP kaya sabi ko ipasara ko na kaya ang OVP".

Leni almost fell from her chair. The live press briefing abruptly went off the air and commercial break immediately took over. After a while the live press briefing returned but it is only now SAP Bong Go who faced the nation, telling everyone that the briefing had ended and hurriedly went out of the room too. Leni, on the other hand, took her phone and typed a message.

Loveeee! Ano 'yon? Why did you said those?, was Leni' s message.

Don't worry, Love. Aayusin ko ito. I'm sorry ma'am, nadulas ako. This was Digong's response.

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As expected, President Duterte's statement was the headline of printed news as well as the news program on mainstream media. The hashtag #DuterteDyowa even trended on twitter. As expected too, his critics used his statement against him again. They were trying to project him as pervert and infidel.

Sec. Harry Roque, the presidential spokesperson, meanwhile released an official statement from the Palace.

"Ang Pangulong Duterte ay nagbibiro lamang po. 'Wag po nating masyadong sineseryoso. And on the OVP statement, nagkamali lamang po doon ang pangulo. Ang ibig po niya sanang sabihin ay OPD o Out Patient Department. Kung naalala po ninyo ay isang nurse si Ms. Honeylet at nagtrabaho sa hospital. Hindi po gaya ng gusto ninyong palabasin na ang dyowa o kasintahan ng pangulo ay nasa OVP. Hindi po. Sana po ay tigilan na natin ang mga maling haka haka. Mag focus po tayo sa paghahanap ng solusyon sa ating kinakaharap na krisis", mahabang pahayag ni Sec. Roque.

But netizens are not convinced. One even tweeted that Ms. Honeylet never worked on hospitals here in the country and that the President used present tense in his statement, meaning, relasyon niya sa ngayon ang tinutukoy nito. Many agreed with the said tweet.

Meanwhile, #ProtectVPLeni also trended. Netizens were speculating that one of her staff is Duterte's dyowa and maybe using her to spy on the Vice President. There were even some who suggested to the VP that she must conduct a background check on her staff to pinpoint the "spy".

Palace released statements after statements regarding the issue. They were very determined to prove that the President just committed mistake in saying OVP. OVP and OPD sounds alike, the Palace even said.

On the other hand, the Duterte siblings as well as the Robredo's were being bombarded with interview requests from media personalities. But both camps would not grant any interview. Even VP Leni who expected this scenario instructed her staff not to allow any media personality to interview her. She wants to keep quiet about Digong's statement and stay low key as much possible. She even asked her daughters to refrain from releasing statements and granting interviews. She fears that the persuasive media people may extract information from her daughters that may further caused issue and implicate her as well. Leni is holding on to Digong's assurance that he will take care of the issue.

Nagkausap na rin sila ni Digong. Bahala na daw si Sec. Harry sa pagpapaliwanag. At hayaan na lang nila ang issue, it will die a natural death as what Digong said.

Leni's partymates are also asking her about the president's statement that he has a girlfriend working at OVP. She parroted the statement of the Palace, that the president had just made a blunder. That it should be OPD and not OVP. She just doesn't know if they believed her explanation. But Leni couldn't care less. She wanted to follow Digong's advice and that is to just let it pass. And that the said issue will evaporate sooner. She, then, focused on her Angat Buhay projects. Her office is even going to launch a new project focused on helping the displaced workers.

But two days after President Duterte's address to the nation, his statement is still the talk of the town. Mas grumabe pa nga dahil ang mga netizen ay nagpipinpoint na ng mga staff ng OVP na maaari o pwedeng karelasyon ng Pangulo.

Leni's partymates are also pressuring her to release a statement. A strong statement, so intense, that it will drag down the president. But Leni did not gave in with the pressure. Sinabi niya sa mga kasama niya sa partido na 'wag na lang nilang patulan ang issue at mag focus na lang sila sa mas importanteng mga bagay.

But then, one netizen made a tweet that trended. He said on his tweet

"hanap tayo ng hanap ng jowa ng Pangulo sa mga staff ng OVP, eh paano kung si VP Leni pala ang jowa niya di ba? Paano kung may relasyon pala sila?".

Dahil dito, hindi na ang mga staff ang sentro ng intriga..si VP Leni na.

To be continued...