Vice President Leni Robredo in her radio program. (FILE) Image from Facebook / Vice President Leni Robredo
MANILA, Philippines — The first thing that Vice President Leni Robredo would do, if she was made head of the country’s COVID-19 response, is to look at available funds and make a list of things most needed right now.
Robredo said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel’s Headstart on Monday that as recent Commission on Audit (COA) reports showed that available public funds were not used properly, this only means that spending can be more efficient.
And in case there is no money available, Robredo said maybe that the country can ask Congress to realign funds so that the budget would be properly managed.
“Sa akin, we have seen may mga COA reports. Ang una kong gagawin, titignan ko how much money do we have now. Ano ba ‘yong available na pera, itatabi natin ‘yon sa kung ano ba ‘yong pinaka-kailangan,” Robredo said.
(For me, we have seen the COA reports. What I would do first is to look at how much money we have now, how much money and we would set that aside for what we need the most.)
“Halimbawa, ang isa sa pinaka-kailangan ngayon, ‘yong pag-asikaso sa mga healthcare workers natin. So titignan ko na, ito bang pera natitira natin, pwede ba natin itong gastusin para sa healthcare workers? Kasi kung hindi, kailangangang may gawin tayo. Halimbawa, babalik ba tayo sa Kongreso para magkaroon ng realignment?” she added.
(For example, one of the most pressing needs is to attend to our healthcare workers’ needs. So we would look at how much money we still do need, if we can still spend it for our healthcare workers? Because if not, we need to do something, for example, should we go to Congress for realignment?)
After this, she said that she would assess where the funds should go first: if patients need supplies like ventilators and oxygens, and if hospitals need more health workers, then these would be prioritized.
“We’re doing our own Bayanihan E-Konsulta, and kami mismo front-row seat ng talagang wala nang available na ospital, ‘yong mga pasyente namin palipat-lipat sa mga ospital na paminsan naa-admit sila a day after, ang iba namamatay na, ang iba pang-siyam na ospital saka maa-admit. So ano’ng kulang?” she asked.
(We’re doing our own Bayanihan E-Konsulta, and we ourselves have a front-row seat to the lack of hospitals, our patients have visited one hospital after another and they get admitted only a day after, sometimes patient die without being admitted, and some only get admitted on the ninth hospital they visit.)
“Kung ang kulang healthcare workers, eh ‘di mag-hire pa tayo, basta asikasuhin natin ‘yong sweldo nila, asikasuhin natin ‘yong benefits nila. Kulang ba ng mga high-flow oxygen kasi ‘yon ‘yong pinaka-kailangan ngayon, kulang ba ng ventilators? Ito dapat ‘yong pinaka-una eh,” she explained.
(If we need more healthcare workers, then we should hire more as long as we can address their grievances about salaries and the proper benefits. Do we lack high-flow oxygen, because that is one of the most needed equipment, do we lack ventilators? This should be addressed first.)
Questions about what Robredo would have done if she was at the helm of government came after she admitted being tempted to ask the administration to let her lead the COVID-19 response.
During an interview with Rappler Talk last Friday, Robredo said that she is tempted to ask for “blanket authority,” saying it would probably be better if she participated.
READ: Robredo tempted to seek authority over PH’s COVID-19 response: It would be better
Since the pandemic started, Robredo and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) have provided various programs aimed at helping the government’s COVID-19 response, like free shuttles for frontline workers, free supplies for health workers like personal protective equipment and dormitories.
A year after the pandemic, OVP remodeled its response, now helping local governments do COVID-19 vaccinations, providing telemedicine methods, and mobile COVID-19 testing — while continuing to provide insights on what the government is doing wrong.
But despite these many programs, Robredo has no official mandate in the COVID-19 response.
READ: Robredo seeks improvement in testing, contact tracing amid soaring COVID-19 cases
The country is still gripping with a new COVID-19 surge attributed to the Delta variant, which is said to be 60 percent more infectious than the Alpha variant that caused the surge last March 2021.
As of Sunday, the country’s active cases was at 157,438 after the Department of Health recorded 20,019 new COVID-19 infections — the third-straight day that the country registered over 20,000 cases daily.
Despite the high number of cases, President Rodrigo Duterte maintained last Tuesday that the Philippines’ situation is better than other countries because of its allegedly lower death count.
READ: After 22k COVID-19 cases logged in a day, Duterte says PH doesn’t have many deaths