MANILA – Vice President Leni Robredo cannot join the regular meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) because she is not a member of the Cabinet, Malacañang said on Wednesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after Senator Imee Marcos urged the government to consider appointing an “ordinary mother” to the IATF, noting how women were outnumbered in the task force on the government’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response.
“Kay VP Leni Robredo siya ay Pangalawang Pangulo pero hindi siya miyembro ng Gabinete kaya hindi po siya maimbita sa Cabinet meeting (VP Leni Robredo is the Vice President but she’s not a member of the Cabinet so we can’t invite her to the Cabinet meeting),” he said in an interview over PTV-4.
Roque said the IATF welcomes all Robredo’s suggestions but noted that she had nothing new to bring to the table.
“Lahat ng suhestiyon niya pinakikinggn natin kaya lang wala pong bago. Kung meron siyang bagong suhestyon I am sure ikokonsidera po yan (We listen to all her suggestions but there’s nothing new. If she has a new suggestion, I am sure it will be considered),” he said.
Roque said all Cabinet and IATF members always see to it that they discuss the plight of Filipinos affected by the pandemic in their regular meetings.
“Lahat naman po ng Cabinet members papunta doon sa pagpupulong na yun ay daladala ang sentimiento hind lang ng kanilang personal kung hindi ang sentimiento ng taumbayan (All Cabinet members in the meeting bring not only their personal sentiments but all public sentiments),” he said.
Roque earlier said Robredo was being “blind and deaf” to the national government’s efforts after she claimed that there is a lack of system and cohesive plan in the government’s Covid-19 response.
He said he did not expect her to say anything good about the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Despite Robredo’s criticism, Roque said Duterte continued to enjoy the support of the Filipino people.
Earlier, Marcos vouched for more women appointees in the IATF, noting that the pandemic had affected women in “myriad and cruel ways.”
“We need a commonsensical but compassionate homemaker in policymaking or set up a special committee led by her to assess the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on women,” she said.
She said a mother in the IATF “would already have set up community-based tutoring pools that handle small groups of kids, or opened streets and auditoriums, and more handwashing facilities for family use. Instead, we are arresting people for quarantine violations.”
In July 2016, Duterte appointed Robredo as head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
Robredo resigned in December the same year after Duterte ordered her to refrain from attending all Cabinet meetings. (PNA)
