House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano defended the House of Representatives from Vice President Leni Robredo’s tirade about its misplaced priorities amid the increasingly worsening coronavirus pandemic situation in the country.
In her recent interviews, Robredo expressed her disappointment at how the government seems to not prioritize the fight against COVID-19 but instead target its critics as if they are the enemies.
Cayetano, in his speech during the last hearings on ABS-CBN’s application for franchise renewal, said the Congress is doing its job.
“Hindi po natutulog sa pansitan ang Kongreso (The Congress is not sleeping on the issues).”
He added, “I say this for the benefit of our Vice President who, despite appearing to be clueless as to the real work of this Congress has done, nonetheless feels it’s her duty to instruct this House on how it should conduct its business.”
“So sana, halimbawa sa Congress, sana imbes na pinag-uusapan iyong mga bagay na hindi naman nakakatulong, sana ito na iyong ginagawa, ‘di ba?”
[So I hope, like in Congress, instead of tackling issues that are less important, they should attend to the urgent ones.]
Cayetano said the House of Representatives has also discussed matters concerning the pandemic amid the spotlight given on the media giant’s bid for another 25-years of legislative franchise.
“Nung hindi namin tine-take up ang ABS-CBN, sabi ng Pangalawang Pangulo, I-take up na ito kaagad,” the Speaker said. “Ngayon na tine-take-up natin, marami daw mas importante.”
[When we were not touching the ABS-CBN franchise issue, the Vice President told us to take it up. And now that we are hearing it, she would say that there are far more important issues.]
“Ginagawa po namin ang trabaho namin,” he added..”Hindi lang nagla-live sa TV lahat ng aming mga hearings.”
[We are doing our job. It’s just that not all hearings are being broadcasted on TV.]
