MAYOR Sara Duterte slammed Vice President Leni Robrero for urging the city government to emulate Cebu in controlling the surge.
Duterte said the vice president should avoid involving the Covid-19 surge in Davao City in her attempt at politicking.”
“There will be a proper time to attack my performance as an LCE (local chief executive) in this pandemic if she (Robredo) dares to run for President,” said the mayor who, despite calls for her to run for President to succeed her father, has denied any plan to join the 2022 presidential derby.
Duterte added that Robredo “should not attack the medical community of Davao City as being inactive when they have been silently suffering and working tirelessly to help save lives since March of last year.”
She was alluding to Robredo’s statement on Sunday that in Cebu, the local government partnered with the medical community in curbing the spread of the virus.
“The Vice President should refrain from giving advice if she knows nothing about what is happening on the ground,” Duterte said in a statement on Sunday night.
She said Robredo’s comment “has been the hallmark of her term as VP, where she puts forth comments on matters and affairs she lacks understanding and knowledge on and does not offer anything helpful to solve a problem.”
She added: “The private sector has been very helpful and has tremendously contributed to the Covid-19 response in Davao City.”
She also urged Robredo to “open her eyes to the surge of cases in localities all around the world and she might be able to say that a surge in cases where 85% of the cases are asymptomatic is primarily identified by aggressive testing, coupled with tracing and isolation/quarantining.”
The city government has embarked on extensive tracing of those who have contact with infected individuals, expanding the testing until those who might have been exposed to infected individuals up to the third degree, and opening up more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities.
EArly this month, the city government also ordered the shutting down of operations of five call centers after several cases were discovered in these facilities. One of the call centers even yielded about 400 employees who were infected with the virus.
The city government also ordered the closure for two weeks of the city council building after 40 employees in the offices located in the building were found positive of the virus.
