Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24) — Will President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo be appearing together in an infomercial aiming to boost the public’s confidence in vaccines anytime soon? It’s up to the chief executive, Malacañang says.
“It will really depend on the President. The President will assess, pag-aaralan ng Presidente kung talagang meron bang kontribusyon yung pagsali ni VP Leni (Robredo) sa infomercial na gaya ng pinaplano,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during his press briefing on Monday.
[Translation: He will look into whether VP Leni joining the planned infomercial will really contribute something.]
Robredo said over the weekend that she is open to appearing with Duterte in an infomercial to encourage more Filipinos to roll up their sleeves and receive COVID-19 shots. She was reacting to Senator Joel Villanueva’s suggestion that the country’s top two officials appear in such content to help strengthen the public’s vaccine confidence.
“Pero ang karanasan po natin and this is backed up by a study by (Philippine Survey and Research Center), yung pinaka-epektibong kampanya po so far against COVID is Mask, Hugas, Iwas na sa bandang huli ay narooon po ang ating Presidente,” said the spokesman.
[Translation: However, our experience is and this is backed up by a study by the Philippine Survey and Research Center that the most effective campaign so far against COVID is Mask, Hugas, Iwas wherein our President appears at the very end.]
Roque earlier reported during Duterte’s public address last week that the said infomercial is what people recall the most, citing the PSRC. He also said that they will be creating a new infomercial, this time to allay vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos.
The number of COVID-19 doses administered so far has already breached 4 million as of May 23, the Cabinet official reported.
