Vice President Leni Robredo disputed Sunday Sen. Bong Go who had challenged her to publicly receive anti-COVID vaccine, telling him that this is "unnecessary" since she has already stated her willingness to do so late last year.
(Mark Balmores / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
"Ang hinahamon ‘yung hindi klaro ang tayo pagdating sa mga bagay, pero ako hindi ako kailangang hamunin kasi ako nga ‘yung nag-vovolunteer (The people who should be challenged are those who don't have a clear stance on things, but as for me, you don't need to challenge me because I've been volunteering for it)," Robredo said in her weekly radio program "BISErbisyong Leni" on DZXL.
She said it was early December in the same radio program that she declared that she would be willing to have herself inoculated in public for the sake of increasing Filipinos' confidence in vaccines.
Last week, Go dared the lady official to get the jabs either after or alongside President Duterte as the government contended with survey results that nearly 50 percent of Filipinos are unwilling to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
"Mahalaga kasi na ‘yung Pangulo talaga ‘yung manguna. Kung ayaw niya, willing talaga akong manguna (It's really important for the President to be the first to get vaccinated. If he doesn't want to, I'm really willing to be the first)," Robredo said.
The opposition leader said it's "alarming" that almost half of Filipinos would rather not have themselves vaccinated despite the threat of COVID-19.
Robredo blamed the "controversies" and lack of public knowledge on the various anti-COVID vaccines as reason for the survey results.
"Marami pa ring hindi klaro. Kung naging very transparent sana...from the very start, klinaro lahat, ano ‘yung kalagayan, bakit ito ‘yung preference, tingin ko hindi naman magkakaroon ng controversies. Ang bawat controversy hindi nakakatulong, lalong nag-dududa ‘yung tao (A lot of things are unclear. If it had been very transparent from the start, everything was made clear on the status and preference of vaccines, I think there would be no controversies. Each controversy adds to the peoples' doubts)," she said.