Aspiring president Vice President Leni Robredo is appealing to the government to allow the continuous operation of her office's pandemic response programs during the campaign period next year, especially with the entry of Omicron variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.
Robredo, during a press briefing Thursday, Dec. 16, said that they are now "preparing a petition" to seek the Commissions on Elections' (Comelec) approval to allow their several COVID-related programs to continue amid the official campaign period starting February 2022.
The Vice President was referring to her office's programs such as the Vaccine Express, Swab Cab, and Bayanihan E-Konsulta, which are mostly powered by donations and volunteer mechanism.
She said they "actually don't have a problem with volunteers" for the programs as they have a lot of private partners willing to give access to supply. Their only problem, she added, is the possible interruption of the programs due to her presidential bid.
"Yung nakikita lang namin na pinakaproblema namin ngayon, kasi kandidato ako, ako yung head of office, and by February 8, official campaign period na. So hihingi sana kami, we're-- we're preparing our-- our petition na sana ay payagan kaming ituloy-tuloy ng office (The only problem we are seeing now is that because I am a candidate, I am the head of office, and by Feb. 8, official campaign period will begin. So we are preparing our petition to allow our office to carry on with the programs)," Robredo disclosed.
The aspiring president emphasized the need to ramp up the country's COVID-19 response, especially the vaccination program, now that the Omicron variant is detected in the country.
So, she hopes that the Comelec will allow them to go on with the programs and noted that she will commit to no longer attend the program's activities during the campaign period.
"Hindi ako. Hindi ko pupuntahan yung mga programs, pero sana payagan kaming ituloy-tuloy yung mga programa, especially for COVID-related operations gaya ng Vaccine Express, yung Swab Cab, yung Bayanihan E-Konsulta kahit campaign period na. Kasi yung need nandiyan eh (I will no longer attend the programs, so I really hope they would allow the continuous implementation of the programs, especially for COVID-related operations such as Vaccine Express, Swab Cab, Bayanihan E-Konsulta even during the campaign period. Because the need remains)," Robredo stressed.