Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque claimed that the opposition was actually wishing for the government's vaccination program against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to fail so they could have a better shot at winning in the upcoming 2022 elections.
Roque made the statement after opposition group 1SAMBAYAN said their candidates for next year's polls are still hesitant to run.
In his press briefing on Monday, Roque accused the opposition of praying for the administration to fail in the vaccination program so they can have a better shot at winning the elections.
"Ngayon po ay nagdadasal nga sila na 'wag tayo maging matagumpay dito sa vaccine rollout para sila ang manalo. 'Wag naman po ganoon (Right now they are praying that we won't succeed in the vaccine rollout so they will win next year. I wish they won't do that)," he said.
"Kinakailangan bilang Pilipino, kapit-bisig po tayo. Ipagdasal po natin na kahit sila ay oposisyon, magtagumpay ang ating vaccine deployment (As Filipinos, we should be working together. Let us pray that even if you're part of the opposition, the vaccine deployment will be a success)," he added.
The Palace official recognized that administration bets will have an advantage in the elections if the vaccination program will be a success.
"It will really depend on doon sa (on the) vaccine rollout," he said.
Roque added that other factors that may contribute to the administration's win in next year's polls are the pandemic and how the government addressed the crisis.
"Nakita nila na ginagawa na lahat ng gobyerno (The people know that the government did everything),' he said.
The country has been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year now and even faced an alarming spike in March this year. To date, the country has reported 1,143,963 COVID-19 cases, 19,191 deaths and 1,069,868 recoveries.