Palace hits opposition for criticizing govt's pandemic response

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang Tuesday lashed back at critics of the government's pandemic response as it maintained that the number of infections in the country is not yet alarming.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the forecast of the University of the Philippines that there would be 3.5 million infected persons in the country would have been realized if the government's response were a failure. More persons would test positive as the government expands its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing, he added.

"Ano ba naman ang gusto ninyo pa? Alam ko po oposisyon kayo, pero sa panahon ng pandemya hindi po natin kinakailangan na pinupulitika (What more do you want? I know you are from the opposition but we do not need to engage in politicking during a pandemic)," Roque said at a press briefing.

Roque was asked to react to Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon who claimed that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) had failed to properly handle the pandemic, which has already infected more than 82,000 people in the country. Drilon had cited the rising number of infections and the supposed "lack of credibility" of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

Roque allayed concerns about the rising infections, saying very few of the infected persons are considered severe cases. He said fewer than 10% of infected persons are severe cases while the case mortality rate is only about two percent.

"Hindi naman po dapat ikabahala nang tuluyan itong numerong ito (This number should not alarm us)," the Palace spokesman said.

"While our total number of cases is already 80,000 more or less, the (number of deaths) is less than 2,000," he added.

Roque also called on critics to make a distinction between the Department of Health (DOH) and the IATF, which he said is composed of career officials who know their craft.
 
"DOH is just one of the agencies that are part of the IATF. The IATF employs the whole-of-government approach. They are not politicians, most of them are civil servants, undersecretaries level, career officials," he said.

Roque said the government is open to proposals on how to improve its pandemic response including those coming from the opposition.

"We thank Sen. Drilon because he voted in favor of the (Bayanihan) We Heal as One Act. Nobody objected to that. Perhaps if he can think of other ways, after all that's the job of lawmakers, to craft policy, we can look into that," Roque said, referring to the law that provided Duterte emergency powers to fight the pandemic.

"If there are good ideas, we are open to that. We don't turn a deaf ear to anyone. We listen to everyone including critics and we consider their views in the decision-making process," he added.

Roque said IATF members were scheduled to meet yesterday to discuss their recommendations on the quarantine classifications of areas. 

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