OVP, Kaya Natin flooded with donations after verbal attacks –Robredo

Donations in cash and in-kind to the Office of Vice President and its partner Kaya Natin Movement increased by at least P18 million since President Rodrigo Duterte condemned the VP for doing nothing to help typhoon victims, Vice President Leni Robredo said.

Robredo, in a statement on Friday afternoon, said that the donations to Kaya Natin reached P5 million on November 19 alone, bringing the total to P55 million.

“Just learned that an additional P5 million was received by KN (Kaya Natin) overnight. Wow! That brings the total to P55 million. More communities will receive help,” said the Vice President.

In an earlier statement on November 19, Robredo said that after she was insulted and lambasted on national TV, KN's donation drive ballooned to P50 million in a single day. There was also a similar increase in in-kind donations.

"Most of the messages accompanying the donations are to the effect that they wanted to help typhoon victims and it is their way of showing their appreciation for the kind of work that our office has been doing for our kababayans," she added.

Robredo, however, also addressed the critics of her office relief operations and dismissed them as trolls.

“But others are still busy trolling. Please don’t engage trolls. Just block them,” Robredo added.

Before the President’s address late Tuesday night last November 17, Kaya Natin had raised P36.7 million worth of donations.

Aside from falsely accusing the Vice President of doing nothing for typhoon victims, Duterte also falsely claimed that Robredo gave orders to the military forces for government response amid the raging floods due to Typhoon Ulysses.

Likewise, the President asked where is the Vice President going home every night when he falsely accused Robredo of looking for his physical presence amid the devastation brought by Typhoons Ulysses and Rolly and being behind the trending Twitter hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo (Where is the President).

Palace spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. had dismissed #NasaanAngPangulo calls, saying "lagi po natin siyang kapiling (he is always with us)" about the President.

Robredo also said that she never looked for the President since she was already busy attending to the calls of people overwhelmed by the floods and calling for rescue atop the roofs of their houses.

Typhoon Ulysses killed over 70 people, displaced hundreds of thousands of families, and left billions worth of public and private infrastructure damage. — DVM, GMA News