Roque thinks De Lima has dementia after she hit vaccine program, rights record

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. on Friday said Senator Leila de Lima might already be suffering from dementia after she criticized the Duterte administration for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its human rights record.

“Siguro dementia yan sa pagkakakulong (Maybe, she already has dementia because of her imprisonment),” Roque said, referring to the syndrome characterized by a deterioration in memory, thinking, behavior, and the ability to perform everyday activities.

De Lima has been in jail since February 2017 due to three counts of drug-related charges filed against her by the Justice department under the Duterte administration. Since then, one of the three charges has been dropped by the court due to lack of evidence.

GMA News Online is still trying to reach the senator for comment.

De Lima issued her fresh criticism after Duterte called her a bitch on Thursday and repeated his previous accusation that she oversaw drug trade at the national penitentiary during her tenure as Justice chief during the Aquino administration.

"Bitch? Kulang-kulang ang bakuna kahit bilyon-bilyon ang inutang, ako pa ang bitch? Sa dami ng namamatay sa COVID at EJK, ako pang pinakulong na nga nya, ang nasa utak pa rin nya?" De Lima earlier said.

(Bitch. We don't have enough vaccines despite the billions we borrowed and I'm the bitch? Many already died because of COVID-19 and extrajudicial killings and yet I'm still the one on his mind even if already had me jailed.)

The Philippines’ COVID-19 vaccine supply, on the other hand, has been stuck at 1,125,600 doses since March 4.

These vaccines are Sinovac and AstraZeneca, both administered in two doses and donated by the Chinese government and global aid effort COVAX facility.

Roque, however, said that the lack of vaccine supply is not due to the lack of government efficiency but lack of global COVID-19 vaccine supply.

“‘Yung inutang natin para sa [pambili ng] bakuna, di natin nakukuhang cash yun. Mula sa multilateral partners natin, diretso yan sa manufacturers. Kaya di pa napupunta sa kanila kasi wala pa silang supply na naddeliver dito,” Roque said.

[The money we borrowed for buying COVID-19 vaccines…we do not get them in cash. From our multilateral agency partners, that funding will go straight to vaccine manufacturers. They are yet to get this because they are yet to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine supply here].

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. earlier said that the one million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine paid for by the government are due to arrive in March.

Other vaccine doses also expected to arrive within March—namely 400,000 doses of Sinovac and 979,200 doses of Astrazeneca—are donated by the Chinese government and COVAX facility, respectively. -MDM, GMA News