Designated ‘bastonero’

We are not even out of the woods yet from the on-going 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and yet new strains kept mutating this deadly contagion. In fact, the latest COVID-19 strain traced in the United Kingdom (UK) is causing another round of scare around the world, including us here in the Philippines. For now though, our own government authorities led by Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III reassured us they have not detected – as of yet thankfully – the UK strain of COVID-19 infection here in our country.

Before it reaches our shores, the DOH Secretary immediately recommended the temporary suspension of flights to-and-fro UK. This Duque did as the co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID). President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the DOH Secretary after the IATF meeting at Malacanang last Monday even as there is no detected case yet of this UK COVID-19 variant.

After he cited possible diplomatic repercussions, Duque came under fire earlier this year for closing our country’s borders allegedly too late after the COVID-19 contagion first broke out in Wuhan, China. But Duque strongly took exceptions to this perceived delay in our weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual news forum last Wednesday. Following the reactivation of the IATF in late January, Duque recalled, the Philippines closed its borders initially stopping travellers from Wuhan and subsequently expanded this to entire China, Macau and Hongkong.

Duque noted the Philippine government first imposed lockdown even ahead of the WHO declaration of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of pandemic proportion. And the rest as we say is history.

For the past ten months now, the Philippines has become known to have the “longest, broadest and deepest” lockdown in the fight against the COVID pandemic in this part of the world. As of latest WHO tally, the Philippines ranked 28th with the highest incidence of COVID-19 infection out of the 222 affected countries and territories.

Otherwise known as COVID-19, a different variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) has been lately detected in UK of this more highly infectious strain. Duque himself announced the President’s suspension of UK flights during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay Zoom Webinar.

Obviously, still smarting from the “somebody DROPPED THE BALL” tweet last week of Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., Duque also took the opportunity to clear the air on the ensuing criticisms against the DOH chief’s supposedly caused the delay of the procurement from the United States (US) of the anti-COVID vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

“I hope it’s not a flat ball or air-less ball,” Duque quipped and chortled. Putting levity aside, Duque asserted: “What we did was correct.” As the DOH Secretary, he explained the process of signing documents that requires iterations from various government agencies involved in procuring the anti-COVID vaccine.

The DOH, he clarified, is just one of the many government agencies under the direction of designated “vaccine czar” Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. The others include the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also attached to DOH; the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); among others. All of them, he cited, are bound to follow the Vaccine Roadmap Strategic Framework that was presented to the IATF and approved by President Duterte.

“We cannot have onerous, disadvantageous agreement. That would be irresponsible and very reckless of us,” Duque pointed out, citing it involves billions of taxpayers’ money to purchase and spend for the logistics to bring here the vaccine from abroad.

He cited the vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech need cold storage of -70 centigrade. The cold storage chain requirements of the other “novel” vaccine candidates are as follow: AstraZeneca and Gamaleya’s Sputnik-V have minus 2-8 degrees while Moderna is -20 degrees. As informed by DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, Duque was told that the Philippines “does not have at the moment” cold storage facility required for Pfizer vaccines.

“It is not like buying chocolates and importing them from abroad and bring it to Clark Airbase,” Duque noted, in apparent digs at his critics.

At the outset, Duque insisted the confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) with Pfizer did not contain specific provision for 10 million doses to be delivered in January to the Philippines via Clark Airbase in Pampanga. “So there is no such thing as botched agreement,” he pointed out.

Duque’s critics who included several Senators continued to call for the resignation of the DOH Secretary and jumped at the latest Pfizer controversy to press President Duterte to remove Duque from his Cabinet. Much earlier, the same Senators even passed a Resolution calling for Duque to step down but which President Duterte ignored. The Chief Executive instead reiterated his complete trust and confidence to the embattled DOH Secretary.

Even Locsin conceded Duque must stay on to ensure “victory” in our country’s anti-COVID campaign. In his @teddyboylocsin post: “We all believe he must stay health secretary to see this pandemic through to its end whether he dropped the ball, didn’t know what to do with the ball or was told that a country whose only national sport other than patintero is basketball lacked a court to play ball.”

The greater challenge for the DOH Secretary is to regain the trust of Filipinos on government’s vaccination program to secure desired “victory” in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

For now, Duque has assumed the role of designated “bastonero” (whipmaster). He carries a meter stick in his ocular inspections of malls and other public places to remind people to observe at least one-meter distancing as one of the ways to avoid COVID-19 infection.

It’s a cheap stunt but effective tool against feared holiday “spreader” events. Tuloy ang Paskong Pinoy!