MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo clarified on Tuesday that the woman being vaccinated in a photo that had gone viral on social media was not her as insinuated by administration supporters.
“This is ridiculously funny. That’s not me,” Robredo said in a Facebook post, partly in Filipino, with a face-palm emoji. “I didn’t want to react, but so many sent me screenshots. If you’re not busy, please just report it [to Facebook].”
The screenshots Robredo got showed administration supporters sharing a photo of a woman whom they implied was her getting a COVID-19 vaccine shot for show.
Those who shared the photos asked why the sleeve of the woman’s shirt was not rolled up as she was being injected.
In the same Facebook post, Robredo said: “Was told that the lady in the picture is Dr. Flordeliza Grana, a pediatric surgeon at the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center (ARMMC) and she was wearing a ‘bakuna’ blouse – the sleeves have slits.”
In a P.S., she added: “Sorry, Dra. Nadamay ka pa tuloy.”
[Translation: “Sorry, doctor, you were dragged into this issue.”]
The photos used by the administration supporters — and Robredo critics — were obtained through INQUIRER.net’s Facebook page, which was part of the coverage on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday.
The rollout started on Monday, a day after the arrival of CoronaVac vaccines made by Sinova BioTeach which were donated by China.
Robredo was not present in any of the COVID-19 vaccination events.
Pro-Duterte blogger Sass Rogando Sasot shared the photo on her Facebook page, although she made no mention of Robredo in her post. Her followers and supporters, however, cited the Vice President.
“I know this is symbolic. Pero Sana (sic) naman tinaas ang manggas para mas kapanianiwala. Eksena 101,” Sasot said in her Facebook post.
[Translation: “But I hope they rolled up the sleeves so it would be credible.”]
As of this writing, the photos have over 951 shares and 655 comments. Sasot’s post, which used a downloaded version of the INQUIRER.net photo has 426 shares and 1,100 comments — most of which are critical of Robredo.
Sasot eventually edited the post, clarifying that the woman in the photo was not Robredo.
“P.S. Hindi si Leni ito. And may split daw ang manggas,” she said.
[Translation: “This is not Leni. And they say the sleeve has a slit.”]