Leadership not a question of ‘more power, more money’ –VP spox

The spokesperson of Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday reminded the Duterte government that leading the Philippines should not rely on "more power and more money."

"It has never been a question of more power, more money or more personnel -- this administration had all that, and look where it took us," Attorney Barry Gutierrez said over Tina Panganiban Perez's "24 Oras" report.

Gutierrez was reacting to President Rodrigo Duterte's advice that the next administration should declare martial law to change the system in the government.

Duterte made the remark during his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) when he expressed frustration over corruption in the government.

The vice president's spokesman further said that the Philippines needed a "leadership that is able to inspire and not divide."

"Leadership is able to make most of what we have instead of whining that it needs more and more," he pointed out.

Unlike Duterte's public address, Robredo was able to deliver a video message earlier which cited plans in "changing people's lives for the better as well as responding efficiently to the COVID-19 crisis," Gutierrez also said.

Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte refused to comment on her father's remarks on martial law.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque had said Duterte's martial law quip was only an "expression of frustration" and should not be taken literally.

In a separate statement, former Senator Bongbong Marcos, son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said Duterte is only showing his frustration because of the difficulty in tackling corruption. — DVM, GMA News