Vice President Leni Robredo clarified that she was not accompanied by a media team following the series of relief operations for the Typhoons Ulysses victims.

Calls for help emerged on Robredo’s side as ‘Ulysses’ sank parts of Luzon last week. This prompted her team to visit and deliver aid to the devastated families across the heavily affected parts, including Camarines Sur, Cagayan, Catanduanes, and more.

Along with these efforts were the photo ops that the she utilized to provide information to the public.

Critics called her team out on this, suggesting that she was making it look like she was exerting more efforts than government.

“It is unfortunate that they are looking at it that way. Unang una, they are very much aware… Ako, if I was spending my own money I don’t have to be very transparent about it, ‘yong accountability sa akin lang,” Robredo said in an interview on ONE News. “Pero alam ng lahat na I’m spending private money eh, and itong mga nagdo-donate sa amin, nagdo-donate sila because they become aware of what we are doing on social media.”

“We don’t have media following us around, but for us, we document everything because our only currency in what we are doing is trust,” she added. “We need to show our donors that we’re spending their money based on their intentions when they donate.”

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday accused Robredo for starting the #NasaanAngPangulo trend. The hashtag, which was first used during the Aquino administration, triggered Duterte to go on a 20-minute rant about Robredo, where he asked about her whereabouts and who she was with at night.

When a President is a mysoginist, the conversation goes down to this level. Eto po yung ginagawa namin gabi gabi, nagpupuyat ilang linggo na para, araw-araw, may madala lang na tulong sa mga nangangailangan. https://t.co/J6MJ7yEl6U pic.twitter.com/lrtkpPKI4C

— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) November 17, 2020

Robredo has since denied the allegations.

As of writing, Robredo is actively extending assistance in various parts of Luzon.

Photo Credit: Facebook/VP Leni Robredo