MANILA – Vice President Leni Robredo should be probed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) over her relief drive that “undermined efforts of the national government” amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.
Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) commissioner Manuelito Luna said that Robredo’s “illegal solicitations and actions” have compete with, or calculated to undermine national government efforts in this time of public health emergency or national calamity.
“Being a part of the national government, Robredo is barred from competing with the DOH (Department of Health), DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) and OCD (Office of Civil Defense/NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), or undermining their efforts, and from soliciting donations, in cash or in kind, from the taxpaying public, especially since funds have already been appropriated or set aside for relief assistance, disaster mitigation, rehabilitation,” Luna said.
Robredo’s office has been active in providing services for health workers and other frontliners, including donation of personal protective equipment, free shuttle services and free dormitories. The has Office of the President partnered with private donors to raise funds.
Luna, however, said the Vice President may have violated the NDRRMC Law, the Solicitation Permit Law and related issuances as well as the measures and protocols of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
In response, the camp of the Vice President has laughed off Luna’s pronouncement saying that those seeing their actions as “competition” have absolutely no understanding of the gravity of crisis the country is facing.
“The PACC statement is so ridiculous, so inappropriate, so out of touch that I had to verify if it’s really was true,” said Robredo’s spokesperson Ibarra Gutierrez.
“Since Day One, VP Leni has done all she can to help health workers, government institutions, and ordinary Filipinos overcome the challenges they have had to face due to restrictions on travel, the shortages in supplies, and, of course, the ever present threat of infection,” he added./PN
