MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday said she was eyeing the distribution of P216 billion in pandemic aid in her first 100 days in office if she gets the top job in next year's elections.

"In our first 100 days, we will focus on addressing our most urgent problem—controlling the pandemic and mitigating its impact on our people’s lives," Robredo said in a prerecorded message to a Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry forum.

"We will set aside P216 billion in the national budget for ayuda distribution to protect families from hunger and provide them with their basic needs without being forced to go to work," added the presidential aspirant.

Robredo said her plans for her first 100 days also includes increasing support for health workers, improving hospital capacity, and making COVID testing more accessible.

She said her government would boost the capacity of local health units to dispense vaccines on their own, stockpile different COVID-19 medicines and deploy them to areas with shortages, and enroll every Filipino to the Universal Health Care system in the first 3 months.

"All of these can be done only if we rebuild trust in our institutions—and that’s exactly what we are going to do. We will put our house in order and restore confidence in the Philippine government," Robredo said.

"We will continue to engage all of society in rebuilding our nation and making the lives of all Filipinos better, safer, healthier, and more secure."

Robredo earlier pitched a P500-billion COVID-19 response plan that includes the payment of all government debt to private hospitals and the establishment of a "modern network" for the distribution of cash aid, among other programs.

Robredo placed second to Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in an October Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on most preferred presidential contenders. She scored 18 percent against his 47 percent.

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In 2016, Robredo defeated Marcos by a narrow margin in the vice presidential race that he claimed was rigged. The Supreme Court threw out his petition, cementing her victory.

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