MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday expressed dismay that Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo has already begun engaging in politicking ahead of the 2022 national and local elections.
In an online presser, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said it is getting more obvious that Robredo is gunning for presidency in 2022.
Roque said she is trying to win the public by launching a series of tirades against President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.
“Si VP Leni po ay namumulitika at nangangampanya na para maging president sa pamamagitan po ng kaniyang walang tigil na birada sa administrasyon (VP Leni is politicking and campaigning to become the next president by relentlessly attacking the administration),” he said.
Robredo’s camp claimed Tuesday that the Duterte government spends more time “attacking” the Vice President rather than responding to the “real, urgent” problems of the country.
Last week, she also branded Duterte “unpresidential” and “quick-tempered”.
Roque said the Palace would rather not waste time on Robredo.
He said the current administration is more focused on attending to Filipinos’ needs amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Hindi po namin siya pinag-aaksayahan ng panahon. Tuloy po ang aming pagtatrabaho (We do not waste our time on her. We just continue fulfilling our job),” Roque said. “Kinakailangan lang pong sumagot pero (We just need to respond to her but) this has not deflected us from our mission to serve the nation at the time of pandemic.”
He added that Duterte has no time for politicking.
“Nakatutok po kami sa trabaho at ang pulitika po (We are focused on doing our job and politicking) is at the very back end of the mind of the President. Trabaho lang po kami. Patuloy ang paninilbihan (We just do our job. We continue to serve the people),” Roque said.
In a March 1 public address, Duterte slammed Robredo after the latter called for the Health Technology Assessment Council’s (HTAC) further review of Covid-19 vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech.
Roque on March 4 defended Duterte, saying Robredo is “always wrong” since HTAC is only “recommendatory”.
On February 23, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Robredo obviously wants to become Duterte’s successor because the Vice President is trying to be “politically relevant.” (via Philippine News Agency)
