DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte lashed at Vice President Leni Robredo for criticizing her over the failure of the local government of Davao to manage the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.
In a statement released on Sunday, Duterte told Robredo to avoid politicizing the issue of COVID-19 surge in the city and that she must refrain from giving advice if she does not know what is happening on the ground.
“This has been the hallmark of her term as VP (Vice President), where she puts forth comments on matters and affairs she lacks understanding and knowledge on and does not offer anything helpful to solve a problem,” she said.
The local chief executive added that there will be a proper time to attack her performance in handling the pandemic should the Vice President dare to vie for President next year.
Opposition coalition 1Sambayan named Robredo, along Senator Grace Poe, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Batangas representative Vilma Santos-Recto, and human rights lawyer Chel Diokno as possible nominees for president and vice president last Saturday.
The presidential daughter, who has repeatedly denied interest in running for the country’s highest post despite leading the list of potential presidential candidates, said the private sector here has been very helpful and has tremendously contributed to the COVID-19 response.
Robredo told the local government of Davao to learn from Cebu City on how it managed COVID-19 crisis and put the transmission under control.
According to the Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas, Cebu City reported 22 new cases on June 13, which put the total cases there at 24,831 cases, with 577 active, 23,389 recoveries, and 865 deaths.
On the same day, DOH-Davao Region listed 310 new cases, bringing the total to 19,833 cases, with 3,535 active, 15,677 recoveries, and 803 deaths in Davao City.
She also told Robredo not to “attack” the medical community here as “being inactive” because they have been silently suffering and working tirelessly to help save lives since the COVID-19 pandemic in the city began in mid-March last year.
“She should open her eyes to the surge of cases in localities all around the world and she might be able to say that a surge in cases where 85% of the cases are asymptomatic is primarily identified by aggressive testing, coupled with tracing and isolation/quarantining,” Duterte said.