Malacañang is taking offense at the series of tweets made by Vice President Leni Robredo and her two daughters supposedly throwing shade at President Duterte’s alleged inaction during the recent onslaught of typhoon Ulysses.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque dug up the recent tweets of Robredo and her daughters Aika and Tricia related to the typhoon response to justify the President's rant against the Vice President last Tuesday night.
(JOEY DALUMPINES / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Screenshots of the online posts were presented by Roque during televised press briefing Thursday.
Robredo's tweets included updates about her coordination with the military on rescue efforts for flood-hit Cagayan last Friday. The online posts of her daughter dealt about somebody was still sleep. The tweets from Robredo and her daughters did not include the trending hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo that has drawn the President's ire.
Duterte was recently livid with Robredo for supposedly lying about his whereabouts during the calamity as well as alleged grandstanding during the rescue and relief operations. He cautioned Robredo not to compete with him, accusing her of being dishonest and incompetent.
"Pinaninindigan natin may basehan po ang Presidente sa kaniyang mga binitawang salita at ako rin po ‘no, tumingin din ako sa Facebook at naintindihan ko naman kung bakit naghimutok ang Presidente (We believe the President has basis for his pronouncement and I also checked Facebook and I understand why the President complained)," he said, showing Robredo's tweets last Friday.
"Ang konteksto po niyan iyong nagti-trending na #NasaanSiPresidente pero napakadami pong tweet ni Vice President na para bagang siya iyong in charge sa relief operations. Tingnan ninyo po ‘to oh, siya daw ang nagpa-deploy ng air assets, tapos siya iyong nagri-report kung anong nangyayari sa Cagayan (The context is #NasaanSiPresidente was trending while Vice President posted so many tweets as if she was in charge of the relief operations. Look at this one. She supposedly deployed the air assets and reported on what was happening in Cagayan)," he said.
Roque then went to present the tweets made by Aika and Tricia Robredo last Nov. 14 during the Palace press conference aired on state television. He mentioned tweets even though he claimed he does not know their relation to Robredo.
Tricia's tweet "Tulog pa rin? Alas otso na" drew more than 7,750 retweets and 71,000 likes last Saturday. Aika reacted to her sister's tweet, saying " Sabado eh. Weekend." It was liked by more than 8,000 Twitter users.
"Hindi po nakakatulong na bagama’t hindi ko alam kung talagang nagsabi si Vice President kung nasaan si Presidente, eh tingnan ninyo ito, kung hindi man siya eh mayroong mga malapit sa kaniya na nagsabi (It does not help although I don't know if the Vice President really asked where the President was, just look at the tweets made by those close to her)," Roque said, showing Aika and Tricia's tweets.
"Iyon po ‘yung konteksto – nasaan si presidente, mga tweets na nanggaling—parang sa anak niya ‘no, sabi nila anak daw ‘no. Maybe she can confirm this tapos iyong kaniyang asta na kung hindi dahil sa kaniya eh parang hindi gagalaw ang gobyerno. Hindi po totoo iyon (That's the context - the hashtag asking where the President was, the tweets made by her children as they said. Maybe she can confirm this and then her action showing as if not for her, the government will not move. That's not true)," he said.
He explained that government troops, equipment and relief supplies have already been prepositioned ahead of the landfall of the typhoon. He said it was wrong for Robredo to act as if she was calling the shots during the rescue and relief operations.
"To be fair, handa naman po ang mga taong-gobyerno (the government workers were prepared for the storm)," he said.
Roque later admitted that he does not know if the tweets of Robredo and her daughters reached the President. He claimed the President's anger stemmed from the "NasaanAngPangulo" hashtag, which he claimed could not have come from his supporters.