‘Duque to stay put’

Senate passes resolution calling for resignation of DOH chief

MANILA, Philippines — Despite calls of senators for his resignation, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III remains in the good graces of President Duterte, who asked him to “stay put” and just work harder to squelch doubts on his competence and sincerity to serve the people, Malacañang said yesterday.

“The President has made a decision for Health Secretary Duque to stay put. (Duque) also expressed his appreciation for the senators’ gesture in giving him the opportunity to weigh his options on his performance as SOH (secretary of health),” Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said in a text message.

“Secretary Duque was made aware of the sentiments of the senators and the President expects him to work even harder to set aside any doubts on his capacity and sincerity to serve the public during these difficult times,” Medialdea added.

Fifteen senators, including close allies of President Duterte, have filed a resolution seeking the immediate resignation of Duque, citing his alleged “failure of leadership” that they said resulted in poor planning, misguided policies and delayed response to the onslaught of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque also made it clear Duque still has the “trust and confidence” of Duterte.

“As I have been repeatedly saying in the past, every Cabinet member serves at the pleasure of the President and until they are fired by the President, the President continues to have full trust and confidence in them,” Roque said at a press briefing.

He stressed the Palace had nothing to do with calls for Duque’s resignation. “We do not have any position (on the resignation calls). We do not have anything to do with these initiatives seeking the resignation of the secretary of health,” the Palace spokesman said.

Sen. Bong Go, who declined to join his colleagues in calling for Duque’s ouster, said it would be unwise to replace a “captain” in the thick of the “battle.”

The chairman of the Senate health committee said that while he respects the position of his colleagues, it’s only by helping each other that the country would be able to weather the crisis.

As health committee chairman, Go said he meticulously monitors lapses and shortcomings in the health sector’s handling of the crisis. He said if anyone has to be made accountable, it will be done at the proper time.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. also defended Duque. “Duque is still the best man for the job; he has integrity to his marrow; I trust him; he is not hungry for anything but public service,” Locsin said on Twitter.

“Public health experts in the bureaucracy are the ones stalling rapid responses. Put one of them on top and we all die,” he said.

Lives endangered

Through Senate Resolution No. 362, the senators said Duque’s leadership has endangered and continued to endanger the lives of Filipinos, including healthcare professionals and other frontliners, as the country battles the spread of COVID-19.

The resolution bears the “electronic signatures” of Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sens. Nancy Binay, Joel Villanueva, Imee Marcos, Sherwin Gatchalian, Ramon Revilla Jr., Panfilo Lacson, Sonny Angara, Grace Poe, Francis Tolentino, Manny Pacquiao, Ronald dela Rosa and Lito Lapid.

“Those are electronic signatures. Not everybody who signified could be reached to authorize their staff to use their electronic signatures. That would explain it. Upon first reading of the resolution, they can always manifest on the floor,” said Lacson.

He said 16 senators have actually signified their intention to sign, while two have expressed support but begged off from signing. He said four or five others were unreachable.

“We are not asking to change the DOH structure. It stays, especially the technocrats and professionals. It’s failure of leadership as stated in the resolution. And when leadership fails, the whole structure most likely will crumble,” said Lacson when asked by The STAR if there is wisdom in replacing Duque in the middle of COVID 19 crisis.

Minority senators voiced support for SR362.“We support the resolution,” Sen. Francis Pangilinan said.

He noted that Duque publicly opposed a total travel ban and even warned of diplomatic repercussions if the senators insisted on their Jan. 28 call for a travel ban on visitors from COVID epicenter in Wuhan and other parts of China

“The interest of China was prioritized over the safety of Filipinos,” Pangilinan said.

He said the DOH failed to do contact tracing on the 31 persons under investigation (PUIs) and on the first confirmed COVID case who arrived on Jan. 21.

“Until now there was no clear system and mechanism in contact tracing, travel restrictions, and mass testing. We need the necessary information and data to be able to fight this virus,” he said.

Fresh approach

Villanueva said the government needs a fresh approach to containing the pandemic. “We cannot allow our response to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue like this. Our efforts on contact tracing and mass testing came in late, while we called our health workers to arms without the proper equipment to protect themselves,” said Villanueva.

“Our public health leader should empower local governments and take strategic actions that would make our response more efficient. We expect our public health leader to show everyone he has the necessary qualities to lead the response effectively because our people’s lives are at stake here. Every decision matters. We cannot afford to be indecisive at this point,” Villanueva said.

Angara said he signed the resolution convinced that there is a need for an aggressive leadership to defeat the virus.

“We were late for testing, contact tracing is almost non-existent, hospitals short of protective gear – we need to be better. Filipino lives are at stake here,” he said.

A militant lawmaker also voiced support for the senators’ call for Duque’s resignation.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said Duque mirrored the “inefficiency, lack of coherence in the Duterte administration’s lethargic response to the crisis brought by the COVID-19.”

“Duque’s failure and, in general, the earlier nonchalant and dismissive attitude of the Duterte administration in the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak, are the reasons why the Philippines is now number one in Southeast Asia in terms of COVID cases and casualties,” he said in a statement.

Zarate also cited Duque’s admission at a House hearing last March 11 that “failure to declare a health epidemic as early as Jan. 31 is, in fact, one of the major setbacks why the Philippines was caught gravely unprepared to deal with the pandemic.”

SR 362 detailed Duque’s official pronouncements that the senators said reflected the health chief’s mismanagement of the health crisis.

“Due to the improper advice and manner of handling the present pandemic by our Department of Health officials, our country is foreseen to face ‘quite negative dynamics’ in the coming weeks due to the ‘inefficiency of government management’ as the Philippines has earned the lowest mark among Asia-Pacific countries’ COVID-19 safety ranking based on a study that evaluated the crisis performance of 150 countries and territories,” the resolution read.

“Knowing fully well the danger posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the beginning of the year, Duque failed to put in place the necessary precautionary measures to lessen, if not at all prevent, the impact of this health crisis,” it said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Pia Lee Brago, EduPunay