Palace welcomes VP Robredo’s proposals on COVID-19 response, but says nothing new

July 16, 2020

Malacañang welcomed on Thursday the proposals of Vice President Leni Robredo on how the government should address the coronavirus crisis.

However, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said there was nothing new on her recommendations as the Duterte administration has been doing them.

"We thank VP for her recommendations although in my answer we have said that most of her recommendations are already being implemented by the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases)," he said in a virtual press briefing.

He noted that based on Robredo's letter to Malacañang, some of her recommendations involved reporting and keeping the public informed, budget utilization, transportation concerns, restarting the economy, education, and composition of the IATF.

As to the composition of the IATF, Roque said it was discussed in their meeting that local government officials will continue to be resource persons of the task force.

Currently, IATF has 33 members, including Cabinet officials and heads of the various government agencies.

Roque said the IATF usually hold meetings for eight to 10 hours.

While most of Robredo's proposals are being enforced by the government, he said the Palace would still respond to her.

"We will send to VP Leni our detailed answer before the end of this week," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS