OVP halts pandemic efforts pending Comelec exemption

The Office of the Vice President's COVID-19 initiatives have been temporarily halted while awaiting the Commission on Elections' decision on whether to allow the pandemic response to continue during the campaign period, Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday.

In her weekly radio program, Robredo said they are still waiting for the Comelec's verdict on giving exemptions to proceed with the OVP's pandemic programs including Bayanihan E-Consulta, vaccine express, swab cab and medical assistance program.

"Sinuspend natin dahil naghihintay ng decision ng Comelec... mayroong 3 programs na nagrerequest na kung puwede iexempt sa election ban. Ito 'yung Bayanihan-E consulta, vaccine express saka swab cab," said Robredo when asked about the OVP's pandemic programs.

(We suspended it because we are waiting for the Comelec's decision. We have three programs we applied for exemption from the election ban. These include vaccine express, Bayanihan e-Consulta, and swab cab.)

Robredo said they had filed a petition before the Comelec to allow the OVP, not her, to continue the pandemic response at the start of campaign period on February 8. She also said that she wanted to isolate the programs from politics.

Thus, she would not be present in these initiatives when the campaign period starts.

In addition, Robredo said they found that a lot of people are seeking their pandemic response.

"Humihingi kami ng exemption dito kasi kahit bumaba ang kaso, pinakita namin ang number ng mga humihingi ng tulong sa amin everyday... Yung iba walang mapuntahan" (We are asking exemption here because even if cases drop we found that a number of people have been asking for our help. Some don't have anywhere else to go), she said.

If the Comelec does not give them an exemption, Robredo said the OVP has no choice but to follow the decision. —LBG, GMA News