A tragic comedy.
This is how former senator Mar Roxas described the government’s handling of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis as he hit back when President Duterte himself accused him of corruption while defending Health Secretary Francisco Duque III from allegations of mishandling more than P67 billion pandemic fund.
Comedy in the sense that the Duterte administration is always ready to look for scapegoats whenever it could no longer answer the questions properly and could not present concrete solutions on problems it confronts—but tragic in the sense that such blunders are at the expense of the people who suffer the brunt of the impact of the pandemic, according to Roxas.
“This is really tragic comedy kasi kase nakakatuwa, nakakaliw na puro ganito na ang ginagawa nila (it is funny and entertaining that they would always do these ) except that it has tragic consequences to the people, “ said Roxas in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel, the link was posted on his Twitter account.
“People are hungry. Can anybody draw for me a coherent way out of where we are today? More than year and a half or nearly 600 days later, we are exactly when this whole thing started... and they are still pointing fingers, et cetera,” he added.
In the interview, Roxas denied that he was involved in any corruption activities in all the government agencies he worked on—from the Senate and as head of the Department of Trade and Industry, then Department of Transportation and Communication and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Duterte, in his weekly Talk to the People, insinuated that Roxas and Sen. Leila de Lima of being involved in corruption after their agencies—DILG and the Department of Justice respectively—were also flagged by the Commission on Audit.
The President made the statement while defending Duque who is currently being widely criticized not only for the alleged sloppy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic but also after the COA flagged the use of P67 billion budget for COVID response.
But for Roxas, these are all a diversionary tactic to cover up the government’s failure to properly address the pandemic.
If indeed he was involved in any corruption, he said cases should have been filed against him, especially that he appears to be the favorite punching bag of the Duterte administration.
He said it was under the Duterte administration that he was cleared of any wrongdoings when his pension as worker for the government was given to him.
The fact, Roxas said, is that he humbly accepted his defeat and chose to be silent in the las five years. But he lamented how the Duterte administration would always turn him as a scapegoat.
“Whenever they could no longer address problems, whenever they no longer know how to respond, they would always drag my name. They should have given talent fee to me for this,” said Roxas.