Duterte not ”plastic” when he slammed Robredo in a televised message, says Palace

November 19, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte is not a "plastic" person and he is consistent with his behavior, Malacanang said on Thursday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement when asked in a televised press briefing if Duterte's statement was "presidential" when he threatened Vice President Leni Robredo should she run for presidency in the next election during his recent televised message.

"You know, the President is not plastic and he did that not only now. The President's behavior is consistent. Is that unpresidential? I don't think so because 91 percent of the people have said that they trust and they believe that the President is performing well in his duties. Is it unpresidential? According to 91 percent of our people, no; according to 5 percent, including the Vice President, yes," he said.

In a taped televised message on Tuesday night, Duterte berated Robredo and accused her of being behind the question that was posted on social media asking the President's whereabouts when Typhoon "Ulysses" was ravaging many parts of Luzon.

Duterte also hit Robredo for "grandstanding and for "competing" with him when the latter allegedly tried to project that she was in charge and making orders to the military to assist those affected by massive flooding in Cagayan.

Robredo denied that she asked Duterte's whereabouts during the height of Ulysses.

While the vice president could not posted anything on the social media about Duterte's whereabouts, Roque, during the press briefing, showed some of the tweets of Robredo's children.

"It's not helping that even if I don't know if the Vice President asked where the President was, (but) look at this. If it's not her, there are those who are close to her who said," he said, showing the tweets coming from certain Tricia Robredo and Aika Robredo, apparently the children of the Vice President.

One tweet said, "Still sleeping, it's already eight," and the other replied, "It's a Saturday, weekend."

While the tweets did not mention the name of the President, Roque believed that those were directed to Duterte.

Duterte had insisted that he was monitoring the situation and on the day that Ulysses struck Luzon, he was attending the ASEAN Summit via a video conference.

Roque also cited a statement of Robredo's spokesperson Barry Gutierrez, who said leaders should be seen and felt in times of crisis, which he said was "an apparent comment on the government's response to Typhoon Ulysses."

"If it's true, Vice President, that you did not ask where the President was, your spokesperson did, scold your spokesperson; do not demand an apology from the President," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS