「日刊まにら新聞」ウェブ

President Rodrigo Duterte berated on Tuesday night Vice President Leni Robredo, saying that this is not her time to make a grandstanding.

Duterte made the statement after accusing Robredo of being behind the #NasaanAngPangulo (Where is the President) when Typhoon "Ulysses" was whipping the the country, particularly Luzon, last week.

Robredo, on her Twitter account, denied that she asked where Duterte was as she hit those peddling "fake news" to the President, whom he called as "mysoginist."

"There was no need for you to make a - make a very bad joke, 'where were you?' What if I tell you, what time did you go home? That night, what time did you go home? Is it just in one house? Two houses?" Duterte said in a taped televised message.

"This is not your time. Not time to be making a grandstanding," he added.

The President said that when Ulysses struck the country, he was working.

It just happened that on the day that reports came out about the massive flooding, including in Marikina City, he was also attending the 37th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, he said.

"I cannot excuse you (Robredo) for not knowing it. You knew that there was a summit going on and you had the gall to say, 'Where is the President?'," Duterte stressed.

He said that from the very beginning, the Filipinos were aware that he is a "night person," that he works from night time until morning.

But on the day that Ulysses hit Luzon, he was awake as he also had to participate in the ASEAN Summit, which started in the morning.

"Now if you say there was an emergency, I was sleeping in the morning, I was not sleeping that time. I was awake that morning because of the summit. At the same time, I would go and whisper to the military guys in the room of how - how was it developing and what was the reaction of our government people there and the resources," he said.

The President also slammed Robredo for "making an order" to the military to deploy its assets to help the people, especially in Cagayan who were affected by massive flooding due to Ulysses.

"You don't need to order because two days before, they were already deployed there, (the relief goods) were already at the government's warehouses. They were all deployed," he said.

"Do not compete with me and do not start a quarrel with me because you cannot do anything except to call. You will pretend to call or you will ask where is the helicopter, is it flying already? Of course, they would say yes. Your --- your --- your question would suggest the answer," Duterte said.

Robredo, on her tweets, hit back at Duterte, saying, "When a President is a mysoginist, the conversation goes down to this level."

She posted a video on her Twitter showing her staff packing relief goods and with the caption that they have been doing this until night time almost everyday so that they can bring assistance to those who are in need.

She also said that in times of disasters, all the help should be welcomed since this is not a contest.

Robredo also defended the coordination that her office made with the military when many people in Cagayan were seeking assistance after their area submerged in water.

"Whenever we get updates from the ground, we share them with the public. It is important to assure those who are distressed that (1) we heard you; (2) help is coming; (3) we are doing all we can to save you," she said.

The vice president also said that she just called out Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo "for peddling fake news."

Panelo claimed that Robredo boarded military's C-130 plane when she visited Bicol region to extend relief aid to those affected by the recent typhoons.

"I am also calling out whoever peddled the fake news to the President, this is why he's so pissed off. I never said 'Where is the President'? You can review all my tweets," she said. Celerina Monte/DMS