MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos don’t deserve rude public servants, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday, as she called Malacañang’s reply to her criticism of the government’s Covid-19 response as another propaganda.
In her regular Sunday radio program Biserbisyong Leni, Robredo agreed that some administration officials are ganging up on her and said they could not accept lapses in the government’s actions on the pandemic.
“Lagi naman. Lagi naman. Kaya tayo nagkakaganito eh, kasi walang acceptance ng kakulangan. Pero sa akin lang, kung kailangang magdepensa, magdepensa, pero ‘yung klase ng pagdedepensa, parang ‘yung nakakalungkot, kasi ito na ba ‘yung klase ng public servants natin?” she said.
(They are always like that. The reason why we are like this is because there is no acceptance of the lapses. But for me, if they want to defend, just defend. But the way they defend themselves is saddening. Is this the kind of public servants we have?)
“Para sa akin, hindi naman natin dine-deserve na ‘yung mga public servants natin mga bastos, hindi natin dine-deserve na ubod ng yabang (For me, we don’t deserve rude public servants, we don’t deserve those who are overly arrogant),” she added.
Robredo also pointed out that some government officials who speak before the public even say “unnecessary” words.
She also reiterated that her criticism on the pandemic response are based on data and statistics.
Robredo earlier called on the Duterte administration to stop pushing for a propaganda and instead focus on fixing efforts on addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.
This, however, did not sit well with presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who responded by saying that the Philippines actually ranked 32nd among countries worldwide in terms of total Covid-19 case count, 45th in terms of the number of active cases, 134th in terms of Covid-19 cases per one million population, and 72nd in terms of case fatality rate.
Duterte’s spokesman added that it is unfair to call the work of the country’s healthcare workers and frontliners as propaganda.
But for Robredo, even this kind of response from Roque is propaganda in itself. She denied that she was blaming the healthcare workers.
“Pati ‘yung pag-respond sa aking puna ay propaganda pa din. Isipin mo, parang pinapalabas nila bine-blame ko daw ‘yung ating health workers. Baligtad iyon,” the Vice President added.
(Even the response to our criticism is still propaganda. Think about it, they are making it appear that I am blaming the health workers. That’s the opposite.)
She then urged administration officials to open their eyes and look for solutions to improve actions on addressing the pandemic.
“Ayaw kong patulan, pero ano ba naman iyan?” she said. “’Yung lahat na datos, nandiyan. Buksan lang ‘yung mata. Buksan lang ‘yung mata, na hanapan ito ng solusyon.”
(I don’t want to respond to them. But what is this?… All the data are there. Just open your eyes and look for solutions.)
The Philippines ranked 79th place out of 98 countries that were rated for their performance in the Covid-19 pandemic response, according to a study by Australian think-tank Lowy Institute published last January. The Department of Health, however, said it is unfair to compare the pandemic response of the Philippines with other countries, citing different healthcare systems.
Last Friday, Roque also bragged about the Duterte administration’s accomplishments in the infrastructure industry and “beating Covid-19,” among others, telling critics of the President: “Manigas kayong lahat!”