Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday said presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s attempt to accuse the opposition of praying for the failure of the government’s coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination roll-out is nothing but a ridiculous and shameless statement.

De Lima, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration said Roque should stop using the opposition to cover-up for its inability to successfully carry out its vaccination program.

“Mr. Roque is no longer able to separate fact from fiction. His recent spin on the government’s snail-paced COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is ridiculous as it is baseless,” De Lima said.

“Napakadesperado nang manisi ng iba para lang mapagtakpan ang patong-patong na kapalpakan nila (They are so desperate to blame others to cover-up for their numerous blunder),” she pointed out.

In his press briefing last May 17, Roque said the opposition has been praying for the Duterte administration to fail in the vaccination program so they could have a better shot at winning the 2022 May elections.

The Philippines is pushing to vaccinate at least 50 million people this year to achieve herd immunity against the COVID-19 but as of May 17, the government reported it only administered 2.2 million as first dose and 714, 432 as of second dose out of the 7.7 million vaccines received since March.

Roque rallied Filipinos to support the government and pray for the success of the vaccine deployment.

But De Lima said the government ought to focus on how to protect the lives of so many Filipinos as possible instead of finding scapegoats.

“A well-functioning government welcomes the role of the opposition, and not paint the latter as enemies of the state,” she stressed.

“I hope this administration would just focus on how to fast-track the roll out of the vaccines and cash aid to all Filipinos,” the opposition lawmaker said.