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President Rodrigo Duterte did nothing wrong to apologize to Vice President María Leonor “Leni” Robredo, Malacañang said Thursday.
During his press conference, Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. was asked if the president would apologize to Robredo for his claims that the vice president had flown on a Philippine Air Force plane and made it appear that the relief items she was delivering were provided by her. office.
“In the first place, the president did not say he was riding a C-130. The president did not say that he delivered the contents of the C-130 that Vice President Leni brought, so why would he ask for notice? (First, it was not the president who said that Robredo was in a C-130. The president did not say that she made it appear that what was inside the C-130 was hers. Why would she apologize? “Said Roque.
Last Wednesday, the Secretary of Defense, Delfín Lorenzana, and the presidential legal advisor, Salvador Panelo, apologized to Robredo for stating that Robredo boarded the C-130 and affirmed that she was the one who was bringing the relief assistance that was from Department of Social Welfare and Development to the victims of Typhoon “Ulises”.
Roque praised Lorenzana and Panelo’s apologies and said that the two were true gentlemen for admitting that they were wrong.
He said that the president’s spiel against Robredo was justified.
Duterte said Tuesday that Robredo lied about his whereabouts while Ulises ravaged the country. Since then, the vice president has denied the accusation.
“We hold that the President has a basis for his statements (We hold that the President’s statements are based),” said Roque.
Roque said that what forced the president to call the vice president was the Twitter topic #NasaanAngPangulo (Where’s the president?), Which was a trend at the height of typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.
Several tweets from the vice president implied that she oversaw the government’s aid operations, along with tweets from her daughters Tricia and Aika Robredo and their spokesperson Barry Gutierrez 3rd, Roque said.
Roque showed the media a tweet from Tricia that said: “tulog pa rin alas otso na (still sleeping, it’s already 8 o’clock) and a tweet from Aika that says:” Saturday huh, weekend (it’s Saturday, a weekend week). “He also showed a tweet from Gutiérrez saying that leaders should look and feel in times of crisis.
Roque also said that Duterte’s recent tirades against the vice president are not unpresidential.
“Hindi lang niya ngayon lang ginawa ‘yan. Constant behavior of the president (It is not the first time that the president does it. His behavior is consistent). Is that un presidential? I don’t think so because 91 percent of the people have said they trust and believe that the President is performing his duties well, ”he said.
Robredo’s spokesman, Gutiérrez, said that despite Duterte’s volleys, the vice president remains focused on “essential work” to help the typhoon victims.
“This is not really important to us… After the president insulted her on national television, she was heading to Ragay, Camarines Sur, at 2 in the morning to continue the work she is doing regarding efforts to Help. By no means the work done in this particular case, ”Gutiérrez said in an interview with the ANC on Thursday.
Gutiérrez stressed the need to focus on helping typhoon victims rebuild their communities rather than participating in a witch hunt to find out who was behind the
Hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo.
“Why be insecure if you have a 91 percent approval rating?” Gutiérrez said.
He denied that Robredo’s camp had anything to do with the hashtag.
“The vice president has clearly not said anything to imply that the president was not there when needed. You can look at any of her statements in the last two weeks, she has not said anything like that, “he said.
Gutiérrez also lashed out at Panelo for making claims based on false information.
“Let’s call shovel by shovel; it was false. It was a lie. It was completely untrue, but he makes no apologies for trying to link the vice president to all this fuss, ”he said.
“It is a total fabrication and he has not apologized for that. He has not apologized for creating this whole story about how bogus the vice president’s alleged delivery of assistance is. It hasn’t… Even though they have been caught red-handed in a lie, they refuse to acknowledge it or take responsibility for it, ”said Gutiérrez.
The whereabouts of the Secretary of the Interior, Eduardo Año, was also questioned by lawyer Wilfredo Garrido.
DILG spokesman and undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said Year was working before, during and after the Ulises onslaught.
With Darwin Pesco
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