MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday said she hoped her office's initiatives to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic will be allowed to continue during the campaign period for the 2022 elections.

Robredo, a presidential candidate, said her office has "no problem" with volunteers and private partners who are "willing to give us access to supply" for her office's COVID-19 programs, including online medical consultations, a roving coronavirus testing facility, and the "Vaccine Express."

"‘Yung nakikita lang namin na pinakaproblema namin ngayon, kasi kandidato ako, ako ‘yung head of office, and by February 8, official campaign period na... We're preparing our petition na sana ay payagan kaming ituloy-tuloy ng office," she said in a chance interview.

(The main problem we see is I am a candidate, I am the head of office, and by Feb. 8, it's already the campaign period. We're preparing our petition, hoping the office would be allowed to continue these programs.)

"Hindi ko pupuntahan ‘yung mga programs, pero sana payagan kaming ituloy-tuloy ‘yung mga programa... Kasi ‘yung need nandiyan eh," she added.

(I will not go to the programs, but we hope they would be allowed to continue because the need is there.)

Robredo noted the country has detected its first 2 imported cases of the heavily mutated omicron COVID-19 variant, making it more urgent for authorities to ramp up the vaccination drive.

"Dapat talaga pagtulungan ng lahat," she said during the Vaccine Express drive for seafarers at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

(Everyone should help.)

The Philippines has fully vaccinated 42.5 million of its 109 million population.

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