The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday took a swipe at Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque for passing the buck on Robredo who he said may have violated the physical distancing rule during her recent visits to typhoon-hit areas.
Vice Presidential spokesman Barry Gutierrez said administration officials like Roque should know when to accept responsibility and be accountable.
“I look forward to the day when officials in this administration can just be accountable, accept responsibility, and commit to doing better, instead of bashing the VP every time the Filipino public call out their shortcomings,” he said.
“Nagpa-mañanita ka sa beach tapos si VP pa rin ang ituturo mo (You held mañanita at the beach but you still point to the VP)? Wow,” Gutierrez said.
Robredo’s spokesperson was referring to the widely publicized violation of quarantine protocols by Roque when he attended a huge gathering in Bantayan Island, Cebu last week.
Photos of Roque speaking before the crowd that disregarded physical distancing went viral. He has been criticized since then by netizens, and even by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
During a virtual press briefing on Tuesday, he complained about the unfair media attention given to him when he presented photos of Robredo who was not being called out for shaking hands with typhoon victims amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m offended at why I’m being targeted by the Inquirer and ABS-CBN,” he said in Filipino. “When you saw VP Leni even shook hands with people on the screen, isn’t that a violation of the restriction on social distancing? That’s my question to the media. I hope you could be fair.”
The inter-agency task force leading the country’s COVID-19 response is probing the Cebu event.