© Provided by The Manila Times

Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo appears to be setting politics aside in offering to help President Rodrigo Duterte support frontliners even as she raised concerns that they were unable to secure the equipment needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement on Saturday, she said, “That’s why we are calling the national government. Let’s respond to their needs. Let us fill in the gap.”

Robredo and Duterte have had several run-ins in the past. And, earlier in the outbreak, critics on social media accused the vice president of making political statements that appeared to be targeted at the government.

Expressing her gratitude to several donors who have been sending donations through her office, Robredo said they have received P36.1-million cash donations, which include P5.9 million from the Office of the President.

The P30.2 million was sourced from private donations, which she said would be used mainly for acquiring personal protective equipment (PPE) and other needs of frontliners.

“Thanks a lot to our donors. It’s really true; we responded to the worst of times with the best in ourselves,” she said in a statement.

Despite the donations, more is needed.

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The statement added that equipment was still in short in supply and that hospitals were scrambling to procure more.

Robredo said they have already delivered at least 30,450 PPE sets that could be used by over 2,030 frontliners in 93 hospitals and communities, but all those were good for only 15 days.

Her office is also set to deliver more PPE sets to various hospitals in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The vice president said she remained hopeful that they would still be able to acquire more PPE sets through donations from various sectors as she cited its (PPE) importance for health workers in defeating the coronavirus.

“But we have to admit that our resources are very limited as compared to our frontliners’ needs,” Robredo said.

More rice needed too

Also on Saturday, Robredo’s Liberal partymate, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, warned that Vietnam was withholding the sale of more rice to Philippines because of the pandemic. Similar warnings were made by Bayan Muna party-list.

Pangilinan urged President Duterte to prepare government-to-government agreements with other rice exporting countries, namely Thailand, India, Myanmar and Pakistan.

Pangilinan, who has been critical of the Rice Tariffication Act, added that the government should buy from rice farmers at a high price as that would put money into their pockets that they need for the next planting season.

WITH JAVIER JOE ISMAEL