By Limuel S. Celebria
The Vice President has only one job – wait for the President to die. As a spare tire, the VP’s place is in the trunk with the jack and tire wrench.
Unless given a specific function by the President, the VP is not part of governance. The VP is not even part of the military establishment’s chain-of-command. This is because framers of the Constitution dreaded the possibility that if the VP was given command of even a single unit, he/she might entertain thoughts of using that unit to assassinate the president, stage a coup or even a simple destabilization attempt.
This is why VP Leni Robredo’s claims that she was “coordinating” with the military as Typhoon Ulysses was ravaging Luzon is plain posturing, meddling at its finest. Her posts on Twitter made it appear that she was “in command” even as her minions were busy trying to make it appear that the President was doing nothing.
The AFP has already denied that the VP coordinated with the military. But look at this slant by the Inquirer
“There was no top level coordination from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with Vice President Leni Robredo during the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses because the Vice President made no request or distress call that needed approval of the AFP leadership. Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesperson, issued this statement on Wednesday (Nov. 18) to clarify that the military had no official role in Robredo’s rescue efforts.”
I repeat the bullshit, “Robredo’s rescue efforts.” Hahahahaha.
It took a herculean effort by the Philippine Coast Guard, the PNP, the Army, even the DPWH (some of whose personnel died in the effort), the DSWD and local government auxiliaries to save lives, open up roads, evacuate those in danger, and provide food and shelter to the distressed. It was a concerted and continuous government effort.
In the meantime, the fake vice president “monitored” the situation, received calls for assistance and “coordinated” with the military (as she falsely claims, according to the military itself), and all the while making numerous posts on Twitter making as if she wielded the magic wand that orchestrated everything under her skillful baton. We simply ask of Inquirer, who did she rescue?
Now that the President has had enough of the “Nasaan ang Pangulo” gimmick and called her out for being a liar, she wails and issues a denial? She claims never used the Nasaan ang Pangulo hashtag or whatever.
But again, even the national press, was quoting the office of the vice president as saying that the President was mismanaging the calamity-response efforts. And such statements were being issued while the Typhoon was still whistling its way across the land. Anyway, if the OVP does not represent Robredo, who does it speak for?
This is the kind of parsing and/or cherry-picking of words that Robredo and her ilk in the media and the opposition are expert at – saying one thing and claiming they meant another when confronted with the lie. Or as their media spinmasters are wont to do – twist the facts into an outright lie. Robredo’s rescue efforts, my ass! The President calls out the VP for her lies, and the yellow-conscript media describes it as a “meltdown”. WTF!
The Vice President has only one job – wait for the President to die. Lying is not included in the job description.
