BY RAYMUND ANTONIO
In what could be her counter attack to President Duterte’s tirades, Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday said government officials should not be onion-skinned when the public criticize them.
During her visit to typhoon victims in Ragay, Camarines Sur, Robredo stressed that she has no knowledge as to who started the #NasaanAngPangulo hashtag on Twitter during the height of Typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.
Robredo said the hashtag was nothing new as it was used before even during the time of former President Benigno Aquino III.
“For me, we shouldn’t be onion-skinned to things like that,” she said in Filipino.
Being onion-skinned means the people are easily affected by what others say about them.
“It should not sow division among us, especially in times when we should be helping each other. Whoever started that [hashtag], the attitude should be to prove that it is not true,” the vice president added.
On Tuesday night, Duterte, in his weekly address to the nation, lambasted Robredo for asking his whereabouts during the height of the typhoons, as well as the flooding in Cagayan Valley, Isabela, and Catanduanes.
The President warned that he will become Robredo’s nightmare if she intends to run as president in 2022.
He belittled the vice president’s relief efforts in the typhoon-stricken areas, saying that she merely made calls.
But Robredo did not take offense to Duterte, saying that she didn’t do anything.
“It is your right to think and say that I am not doing anything [to help the typhoon victims]. I will not defend myself because the people know the truth. But to say that I was responsible for #NasaanAngPangulo? That’s not true,” she said in a media interview.
Robredo earlier tagged Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo for spreading lies regarding her office’s relief efforts.
She called out the people close to the President who misinformed him about the hashtag trend on social media.
“[The fake news] might be coming from the people around him (Duterte). There are so many fake news here. They shouldn’t add to it.”
