Palace says “spare tire” Robredo made it appear she was in charge when “Ulysses” struck

November 18, 2020

Malacanang accused on Wednesday Vice President Leni Robredo of making it appear that she was in charge when Typhoon "Ulysses" struck the country even if she is just a "spare tire."

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque insisted that President Rodrigo Duterte was "in charge" when Ulysses was ravaging areas in Luzon last week and while he was attending in the 37th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits as well.

"I think the records will bear me out that every opportunity that the Vice President welcomes opportunity to take a snipe at the President, at the time of a pandemic and even at the time of a typhoon," he said.

"And of course, her Twitter posts making it appear that she was the one calling the shots at the time of typhoon was completely out of order. And I thought, it was out of order...it was completely out of order that she misinformed the people, the nation, as if she was the one in charge of relief efforts - she was not," Roque said.

"And the President said, under the constitutional scheme the Vice President is a spare tire and when Ulysses struck, he (President) was in charge," he stressed.

Duterte, in a televised message on Tuesday night, slammed Robredo for "grandstanding" and for competing with him.

Duterte was apparently irked with Robredo's action when she coordinated with the military about the supposed immediate assistance that should be extended to the people in Cagayan which was submerged in water due to Ulysses.

He also hit Robredo for supposedly asking where the President was when the typhoon was devastating Luzon.

But Robredo denied that she asked for Duterte's whereabouts as she defended the coordination made by her office with the military. She said helping the people during disaster was not a contest.

Despite Robredo's denial that she asked where the President was during the height of Ulysses, in another interview, Roque expressed belief that Duterte had the basis for his accusation against the vice president.

"I think the President has the basis to say that it was no other than VP Leni who was behind the spread of where the President during the time of ASEAN and the calamity," he said.

He said it was good for Duterte to make such statement in order to tell "other liars to stop."

"This is one of the traits of the President why the people support him, he says what he wants to say and he means what he says," Roque said. Celerina Monte/DMS