Calling for effective governance amid the COVID-19 pandemic is the best way to heed God’s call to love, protect, and care for one another, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Maundy Thursday, April 1.

“In this time of pandemic, love means doing everything we can to protect the person next to us from infection. It means spreading correct information about the virus and the vaccines. It means calling for effective pandemic governance,” she said in her Holy Week message. 

“It means helping those in need, and orienting our thoughts and actions towards the other. It means ensuring that the truth that binds us all is upheld.”

The pandemic, Robredo added, is a binding experience of being human. It should make Filipinos realize that they are stronger together and that helping those in the coattails of society will bring everyone up.

“Malaki ang hamon ng ating panahon, pero palaging mas malaki ang pagkakataon—pagkakataong, makatulong, makiambag, at magmahal (The times are challenging but there is a bigger opportunity—the opportunity to help, contribute, and love),” she noted.

It is a chance to show that Filipinos bring each other up, Robredo stressed, and that there is no space for selfishness because Filipinos consider each other as brothers and sisters. 

While admitting that it is difficult for many to find hope amid the threats to health and livelihood, the vice president said that the Holy Week should remind Filipinos that hope is ingrained in them.

“Sabi nga ni Pope Francis (Pope Francis said), we were made by God for love, and love is the greatest expression of hope. We find hope and we give hope by loving and following the footsteps of Christ.”

This love, Robredo pointed out as she quoted the Pope, will be “our most effective tool in building a new world”—a better normal and a fairer and more humane society.

“Love is what allows us to see our fellow human beings as part of the same family, as our own brothers and sisters. And in this time of crisis, sa sabay-sabay nating pagharap sa mga hamon ng pandemya, tinatawagan tayong mas lawakan pa ‘yung saklaw ng minamahal natin (as we face the pandemic together, we are being called to expand this love),” she said.

“Pag-ibig sa kapwa ang pinakamaka-Diyos na layunin (Love for fellowmen is the most Godly goal)—and we lay God’s love forward by being there for our fellow human beings,” Robredo added. 

This year marks the second time Filipinos will be spending the Holy Week at home and without doing the traditional Visita Iglesia, Mass, and religious gatherings, but the vice president said this should not stop Filipinos from observing it in the safety of their homes.