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Carpio on Duterte: Presidency a 24-hour job


The presidency is a 24-hour job, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has said over President Rodrigo Duterte's two-week absence from the public eye amid the resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases.

On "The Mangahas Interviews", Carpio said a president may not sleep during a crisis.

“The crisis will come when you are sleeping and you have to wake up. So, it’s a 24-hour job,” Carpio told journalist Malou Mangahas. "You cannot sleep when the crisis is there.”

Carpio who served in Malacanang as the chief presidential legal counsel of then President Fidel Ramos recalled that the reputedly workaholic chief executive once called him at 4 a.m. to discuss official matters.

He added that a president should be physically and mentally fit.

“People don’t understand that but you must be physically fit because the job of a president is physically and mentally taxing,” Carpio said.

In a televised Cabinet briefing on Monday, Duterte said he had no ailment that would prevent him from exercising his duty as president.

Duterte on several occasions also said that he made it clear from the beginning that he started his day late but would work well into the night.

His longtime aide and now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Sunday posted a series of photos and videos where the 76-year-old president could be seen swinging a golf club and riding a motorcycle at night.

“The president has to come out and speak to assure the people that we are doing our job, that they should remain calm. If the people do not see the president, they will probably ask who’s running the government,” Carpio said.

In his interview, Carpio reiterated that the Duterte administration mishandled the COVID-19 crisis.

“They performed badly. Everybody’s saying we have an incompetent government. We have the strictest lockdown in the world yet there is no contact tracing, no mass vaccination,” Carpio said.

“The government has yet to purchase a single dose of Western vaccine," he added.

In a statement, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. adverted to the World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, who said the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases was not unique to the Philippines.

"Critics and the detractors of the Administration have always something to say," Roque said.

Carpio also said Duterte was not being true to his oath of office with his policy in the West Philippine Sea.

Duterte has said that he was "inutile" and would not go to war against China over claims in the area.

“That is not true to your oath of office. When you assumed the presidency, you said you will defend the Philippine territory, you will defend the Constitution," Carpio said.

"But when you say, ‘I cannot do it,’ then you have to step aside,” he added.

Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte has “underscored” the importance of the 2016 Arbitral Ruling before the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

He added that the Department of Foreign Affairs has also filed an appropriate diplomatic protest against China and summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian over the Julian Felipe Reef situation.

“The presence of Philippine maritime security and law enforcement forces have been stepped up in the municipality of Kalayaan to protect Filipino fishermen and the marine resources,” Roque said.

Carpio pointed out that Duterte was the only president who did not bare his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

He also claimed that Duterte has not solved criminality and the war on drugs was a failure.

“The SALN of the President should be released to the public. It’s only now that the President’s SALN has not been released. It says a lot,” Carpio said.

Roque has said Duterte filed his asset statements even as copies of the public documents were not immediately available.

In September 2020, Roque said copies of Duterte's 2018 and 2019 SALNs could be accessed by filing a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

“I do not know if that has not been made available. But what I’m sure about is, it has been filed,” Roque said in a televised briefing.

Carpio is the chairperson of coalition 1Sambayan, which is composed of “pro-democracy” groups and personalities aiming to field a single opposition slate of national candidates — president, vice president, 12 senators — who will square off against Duterte’s bets in the May 2022 elections. --NB, GMA News

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