Leni: Attacks vs. Senate probe amid pandemic show Duterte's sense of priorities

Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday criticized President Rodrigo Duterte attacks on the Senate probe on the government’s pandemic supply purchases as they came amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Robredo was referring to the President’s weekly public address dubbed as Talk to the People in which Duterte questioned Commission on Audit (COA) findings on the Department of Health's deficiencies in its use of P67 billion in COVID-19 response funds.

Duterte also used the weekly televised briefing to question the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's ongoing probe on the pandemic supply purchases from small firm Pharmally whose executives have been linked to former adviser, Michael Yang.

“The two press conferences were really quite frustrating for us because we are in the middle of surge, and we need all hands on deck. And yet the greater part of the press conference is going after the Senators, going after COA. What comes out of his mouth gives as sense of what his priorities are,” Robredo said on ANC.

“Pinupuna si Senator Gordon, pinupuna si Senator Ping, dapat sana pinag-uusapan natin, grabe iyong problema ngayon, ano ang gagawin natin? (He is going after Senator Gordon, Senator Ping [Lacson] when we should diacussing that we have a big problem, so what are we going to do),” she added.

The Philippines’ new daily number of COVID-19 cases have breached 20,000 mark in the last four days, and the government is set to implement granular lockdowns in Metro Manila starting September 8 which aims to restrict movement even among the ranks of Authorized Persons Outside Residences (APOR) who are essentially part of the labor force.

Robredo, however, stressed such granular lockdown approach will not work as long as contact tracing and COVID-19 testing among those exposed to COVID-19 cases will not impove.

“Lockdowns should be implemented alongside honest-to-goodness contact tracing and testing, addressing the needs of our hospitals, including our health workers [waiting for the release of their special risk allowance]. Otherwise, parang seesaw lang tayo. Magro-rollercoaster ride ulit tayo (we will just be in a seesaw, if not a rollercoaster ride all over again),” Robredo argued.

“It has been 18 months and counting and everything is the same,” she added.

Malacañang responded by saying that Robredo’s comments were due to politics.

“So, intindihin na lang po ninyo lahat na manggagaling sa bibig ni VP Leni, isabay po ninyo iyan sa jingle niya na pinatutugtog at alam na ninyo kung bakit sinasabi niya iyan, it’s Eleksyon 2022 (You have to understand that everything she says, take it with the jingle in support of her. Why is she saying that? It is because of the 2022 elections),”  presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a separate briefing.

Robredo has said she is open to running for President in 2022 but has stressed that she can give way to another candidate who will have a broadest support. -Llanesca T. Panti/NB, GMA News