MANILA - Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Monday told Vice President Leni Robredo to refrain from "giving advice if she knows nothing about what is happening on the ground" after the latter pointed out that the President's hometown has an "alarming" number of COVID-19 cases.

President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter said Robredo should "avoid involving the COVID-19 surge in Davao City in her attempt at politicking."

"This has been the hallmark of her term as VP, where she puts forth comments on matters and affairs she lacks understanding and knowledge on and does not offer anything helpful to solve a problem," Duterte-Carpio said in a statement.

"There will be a proper time to attack my performance as an LCE (local chief executive) in this pandemic if she dares to run for President."

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Robredo, in her weekly radio show, said Davao City could learn from Cebu City which has managed its COVID-19 surge.

"Makakatulong na tingnan kung anong ginawa sa Cebu. Kasi kung titingnan mo ngayon na nagsaspike na, sa Cebu parang controlled, ‘di ba? Parang controlled and marami ang ginawa—ang partnership doon, hindi lang talaga LGU (local government unit) pero very active doon ang medical community," she said.

(It would help if we look at what Cebu did. Because it has controlled its cases. The partnership there was composed of the medical community and LGU.)

"In fact noong pumunta kami, nakatrabaho talaga namin ang medical community, very, very active sila doon. So tingin ko ang mga lessons sa Cebu, ganoon din. Makakapulot ng aral ang Davao."

(When we went there, we worked with the medical community which was very, very active. I think Davao can learn lessons from Cebu.)

Aside from Davao City, Robredo also mentioned the cities of Bacolod City, Dumaguete, Tacloban, Iloilo, and Butuan as those with increasing number of coronavirus infections.

Duterte-Carpio, meantime, said Robredo "should not attack the medical community of Davao City as being inactive when they have been silently suffering and working tirelessly to help save lives since March of last year."

"She should open her eyes to the surge of cases in localities all around the world and she might be able to say that a surge in cases where 85% of the cases are asymptomatic is primarily identified by aggressive testing, coupled with tracing and isolation/quarantining," she said.

Robredo and the President's daughter are among preferred presidential candidates in next year's elections.

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