EDITORIAL - Exclusion can create confusion

Fully-vaccinated travelers arriving in the Philippines no longer need to be quarantined after the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) waived the mandatory quarantine requirement starting October 14.

Instead, foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated and those who come from “green list” countries only have to present a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours before leaving for the Philippines, Malacañang said.

However, not everyone is happy with the development, including Health Secretary Franciso Duque III who appears not to have been consulted about the move to drop quarantine requirements.

“I just want to put on record I wasn't part of that IATF (meeting) that deliberated on this yesterday because I was in another budget hearing in the Senate... As far as I'm concerned, I have always supported a facility quarantine," he said.

As Health secretary, Duque’s attendance should have indispensable at the meeting. This shows a lack of coordination between government agencies or offices.

This won’t be the first time something like this has happened. Certain government agencies or offices have come up with different stances or policies regarding some issues during the pandemic. Like local quarantine practices, for example, or the policy on vaccination cards.

Sometimes this disconnect has even resulted in open conflict, with government agencies or offices ending up at loggerheads regarding who should be followed.

It is lack of coordination like this that creates confusion in official government policies.

There may be some who venture to ask; was this just that? A mere lack of coordination? Did they merely forget to invite Duque or were unaware he had another hearing scheduled? Or is it perhaps a symptom of something more? Like a loss of trust in Duque, perhaps?

Was Duque not invited to the meeting to decide to drop the quarantine requirement for a reason? A question worth pondering, indeed.

However, considering that Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the government's chief implementer against COVID-19, as well as Interior Secretary Eduardo Año were also not invited to the meeting, this may seem like the former scenario is more likely.

Not including some offices and agencies in crucial decision-making meetings has the tendency to create confusion if not conflict regarding policies later on. The government should get its act together if it wants an effective COVID-19 response.