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Palace slams Robredo for ‘gov’t in state of denial’ remark

By TED CORDERO, GMA News

Malacañang on Saturday hit Vice President Leni Robredo for saying that the Duterte administration was in “denial” of the gaps in the government's COVID-19 response and should undergo self-assessment.

In a statement sent to reporters, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the government finds it “unfortunate” that Robredo, “notwithstanding President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's call to stop finger-pointing, has once again engaged in nitpicking to criticize the government's COVID-19 response.”

“We have been as transparent about our lapses as we are about our gains, and as we have said in previous occasions, fighting COVID-19 is a collective effort. It is a whole-of-government approach,” he said.

In an interview on CNN Philippines, Robredo said that the government’s response to the pandemic is “like we’re in a state of denial.”

The vice president went on to say that the government should instead “accept our failures para magawan natin ng paraan,” instead of insisting that “we are among the best in Asia.”

With this, Roque said Robredo’s remarks that the national government was in a “state of self-denial” or “praising its actions” are baseless.

“The Executive has no monopoly of good ideas and deeds and we have to stress that the effects of COVID-19 have been unprecedented,” he said.

“No country in the world would proudly announce that it has been prepared to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic,” he added.

The Palace official said the administration welcomes inputs from all sectors, including “constructive ideas from the political opposition, to improve our delivery of services.”

Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has been meeting round-the-clock to constantly review its policies and guidelines, where the good and applicable ones are continued while those found to be ineffective are replaced with better ones.

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“This is evident on the number of times we have amended the guidelines. The Office of the President, too, has been submitting weekly reports to Congress,” he said.

“We find the action of the Vice President, which is looking at the glass half-empty —focusing on the shortcomings just to score political brownie points at the expense of the Administration —totally unwarranted,” he added.

The Presidential spokesman also addressed Robredo's claim that Duterte’s reports to Congress on its COVID-19 efforts were not enough.

“With regard to the information in the President's reports to Congress, which the Vice President described as ‘kulang,’ aforesaid reports contain the focal points of the different agencies of the government,” Roque said.

“The complete details are with the respective Departments, including their Bureaus and Agencies, which have been communicating to the public through regular briefings, interviews, webinars and printed reports/updates. The Vice President or her research staff should have checked this as well,” he added.

Robredo, in an interview on ANC on Thursday, said that before the government considers extending special powers to address the crisis, the government should first render a complete report of what happened in the last few months that the special powers were in effect.

Congress granted Duterte special powers, including power to realign the budget, under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. The law already expired on June 25.

“As the concurrent IATF Spokesperson, I call on VP Robredo to simply request the information she wanted from the concerned offices in the Executive Department,” Roque said.

“Also, I enjoin her not to hesitate in sending her valuable inputs, and I will make sure her concrete ideas will be tabled for discussion in future IATF meetings. This is how we work for the common good,” he said. -MDM, GMA News