MANILA, Philippines — The lack of a political motive is the reason why a lot of people support Vice President Leni Robredo’s efforts through the COVID-19 pandemic, her spokesperson said on Monday.
In a statement, lawyer Barry Gutierrez conceded to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s claims that Filipinos do not want government officials to engage in politicking — doing good for the sake of the political gain — especially during a health crisis.
The two spokespersons’ reaction came after Pulse Asia released the results of its surveys on officials’ trust and approval ratings, which showed that 91 percent of Filipinos approve of President Rodrigo Duterte’s actions during the pandemic — relatively high compared to Robredo’s 57 percent approval rating.
After this, Roque implied that Robredo’s lower trust and approval ratings might be because Filipinos do not like politicking.
“Tama naman. Kaya nga karamihan pa rin ng ating mga kababayan suportado pa rin si VP Leni,” Gutierrez said. “Malinaw kasi na kahit katiting ang budget ng opisina, patuloy ang panlalait at paninira, at panay ang pagpakalat ng fake news sa Facebook laban sa kanya — nagtratrabaho pa rin siya para sa kapakanan ng marami.”
(It is correct. That’s why most of our countrymen still supports VP Leni. It is clear that even with a small budget for the office, despite continuous attempts to taint her reputation, despite the spread of fake news on Facebook against her, she is still working for the people’s welfare.)
“Nagpapasalamat kami sa ating mga kapwa Pilipino na patuloy kumikilala sa kanyang walang tigil na paglilingkod sa ating mga kababayan,” he added.
(We are thanking the Filipino people who have acknowledged here non-stop service to our countrymen.)
Robredo was fourth among the head of government branches both in terms of trust and approval ratings: Duterte also had a 91 percent trust rating, followed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III (84 percent approval, 79 percent trust), House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (70 percent approval, 67 percent trust).
The Vice President, while having a 57 percent approval rating, only has 50 percent trust ratings. She only ranks above Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta (44 percent approval, 39 percent trust).
The disparity between Duterte and Robredo’s scores — both seen as figureheads of their respective parties — did not escape Roque’s eyes.
“Naku Madam VP, mukhang tama ang aking sinabi, mukhang ayaw po ata ng Pilipino ang namumulitika sa panahon ng pandemya,” Roque said in his briefing. “Subukan po nating itigil ang pamumulitika, baka po tumaas ng mas mataas sa 50% ang trust ratings at mas mataas pa po sa 57% ang performance ratings.”
(Madam Vice President, it seems that what I said is right, it looks like Filipinos do not want politicking during this pandemic. Try to stop politicking, maybe your trust rating will rise higher than 50% and your performance rating will be more than 57%.)
Despite the low trust and approval ratings that Robredo garnered, a lot of people in social media and even those in government have lauded the Office of the Vice President (OVP) programs during the pandemic.
Amid the health crisis, OVP launched various initiatives like raising donations for the purchase of health workers’ personal protective equipment (PPEs), COVID-19 testing kits, offered free shuttles and dormitories for frontliners, aside from giving hot meals to various locally stranded individuals.
Meanwhile, the administration’s response has been tagged by some sectors as lacking, especially as the country now is inside the top 20 countries with most coronavirus infections.
As of Monday, there are now 324,762 confirmed infections, with 45,799 of which considered active cases. Recoveries are now at 273,123, while 5,840 patients have died.
Furthermore, an international study said that Philippines has a moderate coronavirus transmission rate, ranking 66th out of 91 countries in terms of being able to suppress the pandemic. However, at least 10 of the country’s neighbors in the Asia Pacific Region were on the top 17 countries cited for best practices.