Vice President camp hits Palace ‘politicking’ amid disaster

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo has slammed presidential spokesman Harry Roque for continuously politicizing their disaster relief efforts – and even spending time to “analyze” her daughters’ tweets.

“Good lord, 69 Filipinos killed, 325,000 displaced, over P1.5 billion in damages, and this administration is now spending its time analyzing tweets by VP Leni’s daughters?” Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez said yesterday.

“VP Leni already returned to work. You have been on this for three days now. Who again is politicking?” he added in Filipino.

But an unfazed Roque said it was Robredo who had blown her chance to be part of the government supposedly by choosing to antagonize the administration as per advice of her opposition allies.

Gutierrez was reacting to remarks made by Roque, who cited the tweets of Robredo’s daughters about looking for someone at the height of the Typhoon Ulysses.

During his televised briefing on Tuesday night, President Duterte accused Robredo of dishonesty after she supposedly asked for his whereabouts.

The Vice President denied the accusations of the Chief Executive, saying everyone is free to review her statements to see if she had indeed said such things.

It was social media users and not Robredo who tweeted the hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo, which became a trending topic during and after the recent typhoons.

The Vice President said the Duterte is being fed with wrong information, citing the false claim of presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo that she hitched a ride on a military plane carrying relief supplies to Catanduanes.

In an interview with The Chiefs on One News/TV 5 on Wednesday, Panelo said he apologized to Robredo after he learned that the report was not true.

He noted, however, that a military chopper was used to bring relief supplies from the Office of the Vice President.

Panelo also defended the remarks of the President, saying it is his right to respond to criticisms against him.

At a press conference yesterday, Roque said Robredo was twice given the chance to work in the Duterte administration but still opted to be part of the opposition.

“Despite the two opportunities, VP Leni listened to her advisers and decided to become opposition, if not obstructionist,” Roque said. “Let her be. She became a Cabinet member and head of the anti-drug effort but nothing happened. We only have two years, I guess that’s how it is.”

Robredo had also briefly headed the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

He stressed the President has had reason for his tirade against Robredo, and rejected calls for the Chief Executive to apologize after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Panelo admitted the Vice President had never boarded an Air Force C-130 to distribute relief goods in Bicol.

“There is nothing for the President to apologize because he did not say that the vice president used military aircraft in her relief operations disrupting the operations of the government forces themselves,” Roque added.

“The difference is they apologized. They are true gentlemen because when they are wrong, they acknowledged they were wrong and asked for an apology – big difference!” Roque added.

He said Robredo’s supporters and even her own children were spreading lies that the President was sleeping when the country was being battered by Ulysses.