Press Release
May 18, 2021

De Lima slams Roque for falsely accusing opposition of praying for failed vaccination program

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has chided Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque for accusing the opposition of praying for the failure of the government's COVID-19 vaccination program to supposedly give the latter a better shot at victory in the upcoming 2022 elections.

De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, called Roque's accusation as ridiculous and shameless, saying that he should stop using the opposition to cover-up for the Duterte regime's incompetence.

"Mr. Roque is no longer able to separate fact from fiction. His recent spin on the government's snail-paced COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is ridiculous as it is baseless. Napakadesperado nang manisi ng iba para lang mapagtakpan ang patong-patong na kapalpakan nila," she asked.

"Imbes na tumutok at kumilos ang gobyernong ito para mas mapabilis ang usad-pagong na distribusyon ng bakuna sa taumbayan, mas inuuna pa nila ang pamumulitika. Disgusting and unacceptable!" she added.

In his press briefing last May 17, Roque accused the opposition of praying for the administration to fail in the vaccination program so they would purportedly have a better shot at winning the 2022 elections.

"Ngayon po eh nagdadasal sila na 'wag tayo maging matagumpay dito sa vaccine rollout para sila ang manalo... Kinakailangan bilang Pilipino, kapit-bisig po tayo. Ipagdasal po natin na kahit sila ay oposisyon, magtagumpay ang ating vaccine deployment," Roque stated.

The lady Senator from Bicol said the government's focus should be to protect the lives of as many Filipinos as possible instead of finding excuses or scapegoats because they cannot afford to do such.

"Araw-araw, may mga bago pa ring kaso ng COVID-19 sa bansa, marami pa rin ang nagkakasakit at hikahos sa gutom at hirap na lalong pinalala ng pandemya. Marami ang nawalan ng trabaho, at hanggang ngayon, wala pa ring kasiguraduhan kung kailan makatatanggap ng bakuna ang marami nating kababayan. Pero heto si Roque, kung ano-ano na namang walang batayang akusasyon ang ibinabato sa oposisyon dahil walang mailatag na malinaw na sagot sa palpak na tugon sa krisis," she said.

"A well-functioning government welcomes the role of the opposition, and not paint the latter as enemies of the state. Mag-focus na lang sana ang administrasyong ito sa pagpapabilis ng bakuna at ayuda para sa mamamayan," she added.

The Philippines is reportedly pushing to vaccinate at least 50 million people this year to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19. As of May 17, the government reportedly said it had only administered 2.2 million as a first dose and 714,432 as a second dose out of the 7.7 million vaccines received since March.

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