The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said administration allies and trolls were hard at work spreading false information about Vice President Leni Robredo to divert the public's attention from the Department of Health's (DOH's) supposed mishandling of coronavirus funds amounting to P67 billion.
OVP spokesman Barry Gutierrez made the statement after Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, spokesperson for the government's anti-communist insurgency task force, reportedly linked Robredo to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
In a statement on Friday, August 13, Gutierrez observed a pattern regarding how the administration supposedly uses Robredo to bury any mess.
"So ganito ang playbook ng ilang opisyal at kaalyado ng administrasyon at ng mga troll farms: Kapag may lumabas na issue... overtime agad sila sa paglalabas ng kasinungalingan at paninira, para mabaling ang atensyon natin sa ibang bagay (This is the playbook of some officials, allies of the administration, and troll farms: Whenever there's an issue, they work overtime to come up with lies and defamations to sway the public's attention from other issues)," he said.
"This time, si VP Leni ang nire-red-tag. Bakit? Dahil sabi ni VP, timeout muna sa pulitika, all hands on deck muna laban sa COVID-19 (This time, Vice President Robredo is being red-tagged. Why? Because she called for a timeout in politics and urged everyone to put all hands on deck against COVID-19)," he added.
According to Gutierrez, the attacks against the Vice President were a complete waste of time and energy.
"Sana tinuon na lang sa pagtulong at pag-imbestiga dun sa sinasabing deficiencies (They should have just poured their efforts to helping in the investigation on the said deficiencies)," he said, referring to the observation of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the DOH.
"Ang kailangan, ayuda at katotohanan; pananagutan, hindi paninira at kasinungalingan (What we need is assistance and the truth, liability, and not defamation and lies)," he added.
In an interview with SMNI early this week, Badoy claimed "for the record" that Vice President Robredo was an ally of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
"She's doing the same thing now, defunding of the NTF-ELCAC. So, Leni Robredo is really a traitor to her country," she said.
"She's shameless. She's the ally of the CPP-NPA-NDF and I am saying that for the record," she added.
Last week, Robredo suggested suspending the release of the P19-billion budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and use it to aid families affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
"Habang hindi pa tayo nakakaahon mula sa pandemya, ipagpaliban muna natin ito at tiyakin na walang Pilipinong magugutom (Until we recover from the pandemic, we should suspend the release of its budget and make sure that no Filipino will go hungry)," she said Thursday, August 5.
"Madaming nangangailangan ng tulong natin, lalo na ‘yung ECQ-affected families (Many people need our help, especially the families affected by the ECQ)," she added.