Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte fired back at Vice President Leni Robredo over the latter’s statement on the city’s surging coronavirus cases, seeing this as “politicking” for the 2022 presidential election.
“The Vice President should refrain from giving advice if she knows nothing about what is happening on the ground,” Duterte said in a statement issued Monday.
A day earlier, Robredo in her weekly radio show advised the city government of Davao to study the approach of Cebu City in handling its COVID-19 situation, which involves not just the local government, but also a “very active” medical community.
Robredo also pointed out that Quezon City has a larger population than Davao City, and yet the latter topped the list of LGUs with most new cases per day, based on data from the OCTA Research Group, covering the June 5 to 11 period.
Duterte defended Davao City’s efforts to combat the pandemic, stressing Robredo “lacks understanding and knowledge on and does not offer anything helpful to solve a problem.”
The mayor said they have long been working closely with the private sector to boost Davao City’s COVID-19 response.
“In addition, The VP should not attack the medical community of Davao City as being inactive when they have been silently suffering and working tirelessly to help save lives since March of last year,” Duterte said.
“The VP should avoid involving the Covid-19 surge in Davao City in her attempt at politicking. There will be a proper time to attack my performance as an LCE (local chief executive) in this pandemic if she dares to run for President,” she added.
Source: CNN Philippines