MANILA, Philippines — Critics, including Vice President Leni Robredo, will complain no matter what the administration does or does not do, President Rodrigo Duterte said in a pre-taped speech aired late on Monday.
Duterte said it appeared that Robredo and other detractors would have something to say against his administration — on its alleged inadequate handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and even on a good project like the beautification of Manila Bay.
The President made his remarks about his critics after praising Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu for having completed the beautification of a stretch of the Manila Bay shore by overlaying it with artificial white sand made of crushed dolomite.
“Now people now are really enjoying the reclaimed area with the white sand at least,” Duterte said, speaking partly in Filipino.
“There’s really nothing we can do. You do it, they say something. You do it, Leni says something. What do you want us to do?” he added, before letting out a short chuckle.
Turning to the allegation that the administration had not done enough about curbing the spread of COVID-19, he said: “The problem is when they say that we are not doing enough. But what can we do with the germ that’s flying around? It’s a microbe that cannot be controlled by any… What do you do? Spray it? Do you want to spray it from the sky? We cannot do anything about that.=”
In the middle of his speech, Duterte also took shots at the opposition, referring to them as “dilawans” or yellows, alluding to the color of the Liberal Party.
“But what I’m trying to impress also upon the people is that we are doing our job. Period,” he said.
“These yellow, whatever you says, you’re bad. If you don’t do it, you’re bad. If you do it, you’re still bad,” he said. “Sonofabtich, what do you want? That I spray you with DDT?”
“They’re trying to delude people,” he went on. “They are trying to picture that there is a failure of government. We have done our best. We have responded to the medical needs. And we’re finding it hard with the very high cost of human effort — with [Health] Secretary [Francisco] Duque, with all the attacks, we are surviving and we are only waiting for the vaccine. That’s really all [you can do].”
Duterte then focused on Robredo, for being critical of the government’s supposed inadequate COVID-19 response.
On Sunday, during her weekly AM radio show, “BISErbisyong LENI,” Robredo again noted that the government had been issued flip-flopping statements, often contradictory — weeks after she said that the government appeared to have no leader in place.
READ: Robredo: Periodic assessment better than a state of calamity until 2021
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