A TOP Palace official doesn’t find anything wrong with President Rodrigo Duterte missing his weekly public address scheduled every Monday night.
In a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that changes do happen, apparently referring to the rescheduling of Duterte’s regular Monday address.
“Posible po sa Wednesday. Wala po na ibang meeting ‘no. But normally naman po iyan, Mondays or Wednesdays and Wednesday is what appears in my calendar,” said Roque when asked by reporters as to when the President would show up.
Aside from missing last Monday’s public address, Roque also hinted at the possibility that the President may also skip attendance during deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines, as the latter has been doing since February.
Duterte personally received the donated AstraZeneca and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses in February and March.
“Sinabi po ni Presidente na iyong huling pagdating ng Sinovac eh baka iyon na rin po iyong huli niyang pagsalubong sa mga bakuna bagama’t inaasahan natin na sunud-sunod na po ang pagdating ng mga bakuna,” Roque said.
“Ang inaasahan naman niya ay sunud-sunod na iyong pagdating, so it will just be, kumbaga, matter of course na marami nang bakunang darating ‘no as supplies ease up worldwide. So iyon lang po ‘yun, hindi na siya physically na pupunta sa airport para salubungin iyong mga bakuna,” Roque added.
The Department of Health has so far recorded 143,726 active COVID-19 cases since the new surge took off several weeks ago.