Malacañang continues to air out their grievances against Vice President Leni Robredo following President Rodrigo Duterte’s outburst in his weekly address on Monday night.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque presented two tweets by VP Leni’s daughters, Aika and Trisha, posted during the Typhoon Ulysses onslaught last week.
Tricia wrote, “Tulog pa rin? Alas otso na.”. Aika then followed with, “Sabado eh, weekend.”
Despite not naming anybody, Malacañang assumed that the tweets were hinting at the absence of Duterte during the calamity, thus starting the #NasaanAngPangulo nationwide trend.
“Hindi po nakakatulong na bagama’t hindi ko alam kung talagang nagsabi si Vice President kung nasaan si Presidente, eh tingnan ninyo ito, kung hindi man siya eh mayroong mga malapit sa kaniya na nagsabi,” he said.
During his weekly address on Monday night, Duterte revealed that his day usually starts at 2 pm.
He explained, “Sinabi ko sa tao ‘yan that I’m a night person. My day begins at 2 o’ clock hanggang sa gabi na, walang limit. Cabinet meetings, gano’n… hanggang gabi na ‘yan, aabot ng 2, 3 ng umaga.” He added, “Ngayon, kung sabihin mong may emergency, natutulog ako sa umaga, hindi ako natutulog noon. Nagising ako nang maaga because of the [ASEAN] Summit.”
The 37th ASEAN Summit was held the same day Typhoon Ulysses was reported to have intensified in Luzon.
Meanwhile, Robredo’s Spokesperson Barry Gutierrez took to Twitter his reaction towards Roque’s statement.
Good lord, 69 Filipinos killed, 325,000 displaced, over P1.5B in damages, and this administration is now spending it's time analyzing TWEETS by VP Leni's daughters?! Si VP Leni balik agad trabaho. Kayo tatlong araw na ito pa rin ang hanash. Sino nga uli ang namumulitika?
— Barry Gutierrez (@barrygutierrez3) November 19, 2020
“Good lord, 69 Filipinos killed, 325,000 displaced, over P1.5B in damages, and this administration is now spending it’s time analyzing TWEETS by VP Leni’s daughters?! Si VP Leni balik agad trabaho. Kayo tatlong araw na ito pa rin ang hanash. Sino nga uli ang namumulitika?,” Gutierrez stated.
‘Ulysses’ is the 21st tropical cyclone of the Philippines this year. Preceded by Super Typhoon ‘Rolly’, it has sank various parts of Luzon including including Cagayan, Isabela, Marikina City, Rizal, and Tuguegarao. As of writing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council recorded a total of 835,399 devastated families or 3,512,784 residents.