Duterte to address nation twice a week for update on pandemic response

President Rodrigo Duterte said he will address the public twice a week to assure Filipinos that government resources are all accounted for amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We will report to you twice a week and we will account every money na ginagastos ng gobyerno para sa tao (We will account for every penny that the government spends for the people),” Duterte said in a taped speech aired on Wednesday morning.

Duterte said there is a need to frequently address the nation amid the ongoing Senate blue ribbon committee probe on the government’s P8 billion worth of COVID-19 pandemic supplies purchases because senators critical of the government’s pandemic response are only politicking.

Duterte’s address is dubbed as Talk to the People.

“Mag-ingay lang ‘yan kapag election na because of the exposure. Sabihin lang namin ang totoo. Wala kaming obligasyon na magsinungaling (They talk a lot when it is election season, for the sake of exposure. Us, we will only tell the truth. We do not have an obligation to tell a lie),” he added.

The filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2022 polls is scheduled from October 1 to 8.

President Duterte himself earlier said he is running for vice president in the May 2022 elections.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, the president’s party PDP-Laban is expected to formally nominate Duterte as its vice presidential candidate for the 2022 polls.

The President also said on Wednesday that there is no corruption in the government’s pandemic supply purchases, saying the existing Senate probe is not after the truth because senators led by Senator Richard Gordon are adversarial on resource persons. — RSJ, GMA News