In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

Palace chides Robredo for politicizing Covid-19 efforts

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos

August 11, 2021, 5:55 pm

<p>Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Vice President Leni Robredo</p>

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Vice President Leni Robredo

MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday chided Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo over her supposed attempts to politicize the Duterte government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response efforts as the election season draws near.

In a press statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque expressed dismay that Robredo is launching “incessant and non-stop” tirades against President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“While the President has acknowledged the Vice President’s initiatives in the fight against coronavirus, Mrs. Robredo has made it a weekly media habit to nitpick the Executive’s Covid-19 response. It has become noticeable that her criticisms have become incessant and non-stop as the country approaches an election season. This is simply politicking,” Roque said.

Roque issued the statement, the same day when Robredo called for a “timeout” on politicking following Duterte’s invectives against an unnamed mayor in Metro Manila.

Robredo said public officials should not engage in politics, as the Covid-19 pandemic requires an “all-hands-on-deck approach”.

While he agreed that Robredo is “correct” when she said “all eyes on the surge,” Roque said the current administration could not accept statements that “devalue the efforts of the national government”.

“We welcome constructive criticisms, as evidenced by the appeals of the LGUs’ (local government units) on community quarantine classifications, but not remarks that devalue the efforts of the national government,” Roque said.

Roque said the Duterte government remains focused on addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the national government is having a “close coordination” with health and medical experts, LGUs and other stakeholders like key private sector leaders to harmonize Covid-19 policies and ensure the smooth implementation of the health protocols.

“This has been the action of the Duterte Administration to the pandemic. It has been a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach from the cash aid to vaccination to the re-opening of the economy,” he said.

Roque said the government acknowledges that there is a world health crisis that needs to be addressed.

He said the Duterte administration continues to take the lead in finding ways and means to fight Covid-19.

“We do not say that we are right all the time as no State can claim that it is ready to the challenges this pandemic brings. After all, there is no handbook that deals with Covid-19 and this is why there are instances that we refine and update guidelines and protocols on the basis of hard data available that particular time,” Roque said.

The Philippines on Wednesday logged around 12,021 additional Covid-19 cases, bringing the total case count to 1,688,040.

Around 1,577,267 infected individuals have already recovered, while 29,374 have died of Covid-19.

There are still 81,399 active cases of Covid-19 in the country.

The government aims to inoculate up to 70 million Filipinos within the year to achieve population protection.

Roque maintained that all Filipinos should work together to defeat Covid-19 by heeding the government’s call to get inoculated against the coronavirus.

“We may not be on the same boat but we are all facing the same storm; thus, we have to work on the same goal of magbalik-buhay, magpabakuna (earning a living and getting vaccinated),” he said. (PNA)

Comments