Palace slams Robredo's claim gov't focusing on 'propaganda' amid COVID-19 crisis

Malacañang on Monday slammed Vice President Leni Robredo after she urged the government to stop the “propaganda” and instead focus on addressing the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a news conference, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque defended the government’s handling of the pandemic by citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Roque said the Philippines ranked 32nd worldwide in terms of caseload and logged 4,777.43 cases per million population (134th in the world).

“Baka magalit ang World Health Organization dahil sinasabi n’yo nagpapakalat ng propaganda. Hindi po. World Health Organization po nagsabi kung nasaan na tayo sa ating COVID response,” he said.

“Bakit namin paniniwalaan ang ibang pag-aaral samantalang lahat tayo nagtitiwala sa World Health Organization sa panahon ng pandemya. Hindi po propaganda ‘yan. Katotohanan. Buksan ang mata, buksan ang tenga.”

The Palace official also called Robredo’s statement an affront to health workers fighting the pandemic.

“It is unfair to refer to their work output as propaganda. Huwag naman po,” Roque said.

Robredo said in her radio program on Sunday that the government should focus on improving its pandemic response, stop the propaganda, and learn from countries that have responded well to COVID-19.

“Huwag na tayo sa propaganda. Iyong response dapat, tinutugunan kung paano mare-resolve nang mas maaga. Kasi mas matagal iyong ganito, mas marami tayong mga kababayan na maghihirap,” she added.

Robredo had previously said that the Duterte administration did not have a clear direction on how to address the COVID-19 crisis. —KBK, GMA News