Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo in Cebu City on Monday, December 13, 2021. (Photo by Jay Ganzon / OVP)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo and her team are preparing a petition that would allow the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to continue its COVID-19 response programs even during the campaign period.
This, her camp explained, is to make sure the projects would be unhampered especially amid the threat posed by the coronavirus Omicron variant, which presence was already detected in the country recently.
Robredo in an ambush interview on Thursday was asked if the OVP has programs to counter the newly-emerging Omicron variant given that the Department of Health (DOH) has announced that it was detected in two travelers from abroad.
The Vice President said they would continue with their COVID-19 response programs, as their private sector partners can continue helping them. However, she noted, the official campaign period might halt the projects since she is running for president in the May 2022 elections.
Thus, she pointed out, her office is drawing up a petition to seek permission for the continuity of the programs meant to help the people face the adverse impacts of the pandemic.
“‘Yung nakikita lang namin na pinakaproblema namin ngayon, kasi kandidato ako, ako ‘yung head of office, and by February 8, official campaign period na. So hihingi sana kami, we’re preparing our- our petition na sana ay payagan kaming ituloy-tuloy ng office,” Robredo said.
(The only problem that we see as of now is because I am the head of the office but I am running in the elections, and by February 8, it’s the official campaign period already. So we would like to ask — we’re preparing a petition asking that we be allowed to continue the office’s programs.)
Robredo vowed not to go and visit OVP’s COVID-19 response programs during the official campaign period so the projects would not be tainted with politics.
She stressed that it is more important for the OVP-initiated programs to continue as the dangers of the coronavirus remain.
“Hindi ako. Hindi ko pupuntahan ‘yung mga programs, pero sana payagan kaming ituloy-tuloy ‘yung mga programa, especially for COVID-related operations gaya ng Vaccine Express, ‘yung Swab Cab, ‘yung Bayanihan E-Konsulta kahit campaign period na. Kasi ‘yung need nandiyan eh. So hindi ko alam kung sa– sana payagan ‘yung office,” she explained.
(I won’t visit the programs, but I wish that they would let us continue the programs, especially for COVID-related operations like Vaccine Express, the Swab Cab, the Bayanihan E-Konsulta, even if it’s the campaign period already. Because we need that. So I wish the office would be allowed to do that.)
“Siguro mayroong mga, siguro mayroong mga commitments na gagawin like ‘pag official campaign period na, hindi ko pupuntahan. Pero ngayon, ngayon kasi na may bagong variant, dapat talaga mas alert tayo ngayon kaysa noon kasi ang dami na nating lessons na nakuha from the past,” she added.
(Maybe there should be commitments that once the official campaign period starts, I would no longer go there. But now, with the new variant, we really need to be alert because we have learned a lot of lessons from the past.)
To address the threat of the Omicron variant, the Vice President said vaccinations should level up by covering more people to give them protection from the virus.
READ: DOH detects Omicron variant in 2 travelers from Japan, Nigeria
Section 261.v of the Omnibus Election Code bars the release of public funds for all kinds of public works so that government programs or tax-funded initiatives would not be used for electioneering.
But the same provision allows certain programs, like emergency work due to calamities and social welfare activities amid disasters to continue even during the official campaign period.
In 2020, however, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the OVP for its slow use of medical assistance funds that were allocated in 2019 or before the pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe.
OVP reasoned out at the time that the delays in disbursement were not due to corruption issues but because they were not allowed to spend funds in 2019 as it was an election year.
Robredo led the Otso Diretso senatorial slate in the mid-term polls that year.
But since the first outbreak in the country in March 2020, Robredo and OVP have provided alternative and practical solutions to problems brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When public transportation was shut down, her office partnered with private sector partners to start a shuttle service, for the use of healthcare workers and frontliners. Her office also provided dormitories and other materials like masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) sets to health workers, and hot meals for workers.
READ: 2020: A year OVP kept itself busy despite lack of funds, brickbats from Malacañang
In 2021, her office calibrated their COVID-19 response, transitioning to providing mobile COVID-19 tests, setting up a telemedicine platform, and creating an efficient system for drive-thru vaccinations.
READ: Bayanihan E-Konsulta? Vaccine Express? Robredo says more to come if elected president