"Robredo has a misplaced understanding of why we extend our respect and courtesy to our leader."
The claimant to the vice presidency is suggesting to overturn the decision of President Duterte, saying that “there is no added layer to protect Filipinos who will get the dose of the Chinese Sinovac than an evaluation from the government-bases Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) before they are administered to health workers.”
The President naturally had to react to this uncalled-for assessment on what the President should do to contain the pandemic sweeping the country. First, Vice President Leni Robredo failed to read the law that the HTAC is merely a recommendatory council. The HTAC cannot supersede the findings and recommendation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Second, the HTAC should have coordinated and consulted with the FDA before issuing a statement recommending Pfizer and AstraZeneca over that of the donated China-made Sinovac.
In rebutting Robredo, the President said, and to quote: “Iyan ang mahirap sa iyo eh, you want to be relevant. And you…you know sometimes your make an idiotic stance. Iyong mga ganoong “they deserve the best” Anak ka ng …Bakit ako? Would you give them the worst? Mamatay ka na. Hindi ko iwanan ‘yong mga frontliners and you do not need to really be redundant about it.”
There was a clear undertone of politics in Robredo’s statement. While she did not mention Sinovac to compare it to the Western brands, it was clear she was following what was endorsed by those people in the HTAC.
Besides, Robredo has a misplaced understanding of why we extend our respect and courtesy to our leaders who run our system of democracy. For the fact that her victory was affirmed by a sloppy decision by a magistrate acting more as stooge than as judge, she now acts as though she has the right to openly rebuke and contravene the policy of the government. She ignores the protocol that she is still obligated to respect and give courtesy to the person entrusted by our constitution to define the nation’s policy so we can harmoniously move forward.
Rather, Robredo, anointed by that good-for-nothing President to run for the coveted position, now takes it upon herself to openly criticize the present administration. She and her cabal now wallow in ambition to negatively react when the President reminded her of her place in our leadership. She accuses the President of being authoritarian, having a dictatorial tendency, being vulgar for being candid, being without ethics and decency, forgetting that the President is merely reacting to what she and her Western trolls have been doing to reduce the office of the President that she now aspires to to absolute irrelevance
Their greatest mistake is the people elected a President who is not only extraordinarily intelligent but one so witty to throw back at them every nasty remark they say about him. He is not condescending or arrogant but blunt and candid to say what he has in mind that persons who alluded to him squirm in shame once they realize what the President is saying.
The President is so quick in making his repartee to throw back at the opposition led by this “adelantado” to say what exactly he has in mind. The President simply calls her “stupid” or “timang” for her inability to discern what is logically right or wrong. She was called stupid for it seems she opposes every word the President says even if it is apparent he is correct, and her opposition is just to let everybody knows she has something to say when in truth, she is an empty can. The President cannot be wrong in calling her idiotic on her stand on many issues.
What infuriated the President was the statement by Robredo calling for transparency, insinuating that some the members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) were already inoculated with the smuggled Chinese COVID-19 vaccine since September. She again issued a statement echoing the concern of Filipino doctors to have the Sinovac brand of vaccine undergo evaluation from the government-based HTAC before they can be administered to health workers……” Robrebo argued, “Ako mismo, hindi ko bibili yung ganoong argument na dahil donated, hindi na kalingan ang positive recommendation ng HTAC.”
Robredo hopelessly wants to appear smart. However, there are two issues involved: First, the President smuggled Chinese-made COVID-19 virus vaccine to ensure the health and protection of his bodyguards known as PSG. Second, the charge is serious because smuggling is a criminal offense. What makes the offense hideous is the insinuation they were smuggled to secure an advantage to a select group of people close to the President. The reckless insinuation by Robredo implies that the President is discriminating against his own people.
It was irresponsible to say that the President wanted to secure his own safety while the rest of our people are dying in search of a vaccine. Robredo wanted to make a political capital or “pasikat” of her stunt by endorsing the Western bands of vaccines. For that delay, she is fantasizing the PSG are possibly hoarding the vaccine for their own political gain. Robredo is endorsing Pfizer and AstraZeneca, with the active assistance of her propagandists claiming to be progressives because of her quick attempt to discredit the FDA viz. to collaterally endorse Pfizer and AstraZeneca based on the report made by those pharmaceuticals.
The President was forced to revive the brouhaha when he recalled that former US State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo promised to deliver 20 million jabs of US-manufactured Pfizer and Moderna. Maybe Pompeo made that promised knowing his term will sooner come to an end. The problem with Pompeo is that the President has a memory of an elephant to logically connect his demand, which is for the US to pay its rent to keep the bases. The demand is to emphasize that the US needs the bases to maintain their economic and strategic interest in the South China Sea than in keeping the security of this country.
The support extended by the opposition for the stay of the VFA has placed them in an embarrassing position because the President knows that US would have difficulty making good its promise. It is a demand they cannot refuse or substitute because the vaccine is of paramount importance to all countries. No one can openly say that nobody needs it anyway much that the pandemic has engulfed the whole of humanity today.