Bayan Muna: LGUs ‘unfairly set up’ by Palace for ‘failings’ in COVID-19 response

MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Muna on Thursday said local government units (LGUs) may have been “unfairly set up” to take the blame for the national government’s “grave failings” in addressing the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic.

House Deputy Minority leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said that “the Duterte administration is unfairly placing the already overwhelmed local government units to be blamed with the current slow and inadequate efforts to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“It is the national government that blundered when it did not decisively act when the first cases of COVID infection (were) detected in the Philippines in January,” Zarate said in a statement.

“They wasted a month in dilly-dallying and now it is the LGUs who are earning the ire of the populace due to the slow or none delivery of relief goods and favoritism,” he added.

Zarate said they received reports that some areas in Manila, Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Rizal, Tacloban, General Santos City, and several other areas in Mindanao have yet to receive help from the government.

“For areas that there have been relief distributions, favoritism had been prevalent and only the supporters of the barangay captain were given,” Zarate claimed.

The lawmaker then called on the Duterte administration to hasten the distribution of relief goods, particularly to the poor.

“The P8,000 cash aid should now be distributed because with the absence of relief goods then at least they can use this to buy food and other basic necessities,” Zarate said.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Chair Neri Colmenares underscored that the issue of COVID-19 should be addressed as a “public health and economic crisis and not as a military problem.”

“Kapos talaga ang pondo ng LGUs at ipinasa ni Pres. Duterte sa LGUs ang responsibilidad na wala man lang sapat na pondong ibinaba (The budget of LGUs is really not enough and President Duterte passed on to LGUs the responsibility of responding without enough funding support),” Colmenares noted.

“Sa ginawang ito ng Malacañang, mas masisisi dito ng mga tao ang lokal at hindi si Duterte (With what Malacanang is doing, people will blame the local government and not Duterte),” he added.

As of April 9, there are 4,076 COVID-19 cases in the country. Of the total, 203 have died.

KGA