MANILA, Philippines — “It is not VP Leni’s words, but Duterte and Duque’s failure to address the incompetence and the massive corruption that is destroying the government.”
Senator Francis Pangilinan said this Tuesday as he criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s fresh tirades against Vice President Leni Robredo.
Pangilinan serves as president of the Liberal Party, where Robredo sits as chairman.
In a public address aired earlier Tuesday, Duterte said Robredo should not “add fuel to the fire.”
This came after Robredo aired a national address on social media the day before, discussing observations and offering suggestions to address the prevailing coronavirus crisis in the country.
“You will just destroy government. Huwag ninyong sirain ang gobyerno kasi masisira ang tao. ‘Pag nasisira ang gobyerno, lulutang tayong lahat. Maski na sabihin ninyo mamatay ako bukas, it cannot solve the problem of the country,” Duterte said.
(Do not destroy the government because it will also destroy the people. If the government is destroyed, we will all drift. Even if you say that I will die tomorrow, it cannot solve the problem of the country.)
But in a statement, Pangilinan pointed out that the vice president was just providing solutions to the “terribly mismanaged” response of the Duterte administration to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hindi ito ‘destroying the government’. Nagbibigay siya ng solusyon dahil palpak ang pamahalaan. Nagbibigay siya ng solusyon dahil napakarami pa lalo ngayon ang nagkakasakit at milyon na ang nawawalan ng trabaho,” the senator said.
(This is not ‘destroying the government.’ She is offering solutions because of the failure of this government. She is offering solutions because there are a lot of Filipinos getting sick and millions are losing jobs.)
“Mga mungkahi ba ni VP ang gumigiba sa gobyerno? O ang malawakang kapalpakan at pangungurakot?” he asked.
(Is it the recommendations of the VP that is destroying the government? Or the failure and massive corruption?)
In her own public address on Monday night, Robredo reported her recommendations on how to improve the Philippine economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the latter part of her speech, Robredo took a swipe on the government by saying the people will make way to overcome the pandemic “if there is no one leading.”
READ: Robredo hits rudderless leadership amid pandemic in unleashing stinging criticism of gov’t
“At kung walang mamumuno, tayo mismo ang hahakbang, tayo mismo ang magtutulungan, tayo mismo ang bitbit sa isa’t-isa,” she said.
(If there is no one leading, we ourselves will make a step, we will help each other, we will carry each other.)