MANILA, Philippines — Groups helping frontliners in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should not experience “mindless government intrusion,” Malacañang said, after President Duterte fired an official who wanted Vice President Leni Robredo probed for launching her own relief drive.
Last Friday, Duterte ordered the sacking of Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) commissioner Manuelito Luna, who had called for an investigation on Robredo’s activities that supposedly compete with the government’s relief efforts.
“The firing of PACC Commissioner Manuelito Luna... demonstrates the President’s intolerance to abusive, arrogant and incompetent government officials, apart from the corrupt ones, as well as consistent with his decisive action against errant public servants,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said over the weekend.
Duterte had said Robredo, leader of the opposition, did nothing wrong when she sought donations for medical workers attending to COVID-19 patients. Other PACC officials have distanced themselves from the call to probe Robredo, saying it was just Luna’s personal sentiment.
Panelo said politics should be set aside while the Philippines is grappling with COVID-19, which has so far infected more than 3,000 people in the country.
“Those who respond to call for unity and cooperation must be encouraged and commended instead of being harassed by subjecting them to a mindless government intrusion that smacks of a partisan action,” Panelo said in a statement issued Saturday.
Panelo said Duterte’s repeated calls for everybody to cooperate in the government’s efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus are not a meaningless appeal.
Robredo has thanked Duterte for defending her relief drive and vowed to continue seeking assistance for frontline workers and other emergency personnel.