Amid the new surge of coronavirus cases in the country, presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo has postponed campaign-related activities to focus on her office’s COVID-19 response programs, her spokesman said.
Vice Presidential spokesman Barry Gutierrez shared during a radio interview on Friday, Jan. 14, that Robredo is personally overseeing her initiatives such as the free mobile antigen testing Swab Cab and the free teleconsultation program Bayanihan E-Konsulta.
Robredo also continued with her Vaccine Express program, which brings vaccinators to local government units (LGUs) in a bid to help ramp up their vaccination rates.
“Tama, pero ngayon dahil nga pumutok ulit dahil dito sa Omicron, ‘yun ulit ang tutok ni VP Leni, isantabi muna ‘yung paghahanda para sa kampanya, isantabi muna ‘yung mga ikot at balik tutok dito sa usapin ng COVID (Right, but since we have a surge again because of Omicron, that’s VP Leni’s focus again, set aside the preparations for the campaign, set aside going around and focus again on COVID),” Gutierrez said.
The Vice President herself has been monitoring the progress of these projects, he noted.
“So, ginagawa kung ano ang magagawa para makatulong sa ating mga kababayang malagpasan ulit itong bagong surge na ating hinaharap (we’re doing what we can do to help our fellowmen surpass this new surge we are facing),” the spokesman stressed.
READ: OVP's Swab Cab turnout highlights importance of free COVID testing–Robredo
Since she announced her candidacy in October, Robredo has been going around the project not only to oversee the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) initiatives but to meet supporters, too.
She has been to as far as Mindanao to hold consultative meetings with different sectors in a bid to come up with the best platform of good governance.
But Robredo has since stopped doing the rounds after being exposed to a COVID-19 positive security personnel in December. After her quarantine, she reactivated her Swab Cab program in the National Capital Region (NCR), from where more than 70 percent of the new COVID cases are originating.
Gutierrez revealed that aside from Robredo’s decision to focus first on the current surge, many of their staff have also fallen sick.
Candidates are expected to kickstart the official campaign period on February 8.