MANILA, Philippines — Some senators believe that if the Department of Health (DOH) lacks a “captain” who would lead the COVID-19 response in the right direction, the country will be placed in greater danger and stands to lose the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
“May mga doktor tayong kausap, ang sinasabi nila ganito lang, ‘pag nasa emergency room raw, kapag sila ay gumagawa ng surgery ‘pag meron isang doktor na physically or mentally incapable na ipagpatuloy ang operasyon o catatonic, pinapalitan talaga ito,” Poe said in an interview on CNN Philippines’ The Source on Friday.
“Kung hindi tayo hahanap ng kapitan na magbibigay ng tamang gabay sa atin ay baka mas lalo tayong mapahamak,” she added.
The country’s health chief should be able to put in place the right measures to combat the outbreak, Poe said.
“Dito sa ating pakikipaglaban sa COVID virus, hindi naman ito hanggang ngayon lang, pangmatagalan ito. Ang kailangan natin dito ay isang liderato sa Department of Health na talagang nakakaintindi, na magbibigay ng mga tamang desisyon at inspirasyon,” she added.
Poe was one of the 14 senators who signed a resolution seeking Duque’s “immediate resignation” for his “failure in leader “failure of leadership, negligence, (and) lack of foresight” in addressing the pandemic.
Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, pointed out that allowing the use of the mass testing kits, which have already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), could have been an effective measure of identifying who is infected.
“Para sakin ang pinakamalaking pagkukulang niya (Duque) ay ang hindi pagkakaroon ng mabilis na desisyon sa iilang bagay e.
Unang-una yung mass testing. Hindi niya pinayagan itong mga mass testing kits na gamitin kaagad kahit na may FDA approval sa bang bansa, yun sana ang pinakamabilis na makakuha tayo ng contact tracing,” Poe said.
She added that an earlier Senate inquiry on the government’s COVID-19 response bared that it took more than two weeks for the DOH to coordinate with the concerned airline for the tracing of the contacts of the first recorded infected person who arrived in the country from Wuhan, China.
The senator also said that a travel ban to and from Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, should have been imposed “a lot earlier.”
“Mas inisip pa nga ng kalihim—maiintindihan ko pa kung Department of Finance or Department of Tourism—pero siya health, mas inisip pa niya yung repercussions na mangyayari with China,” Poe said.
Poe also lamented that when several frontliners in a hospital have raised the matter of possible infection, the DOH reportedly tried to contain the information, which made contact tracing even more difficult.
“Kauna-unahang pagkakataon kasi na nagkaroon tayo ng ganitong pandemya. Hindi man natin sinasabi na alam natin ang lahat ng sagot dito pero as government officials, we should at least have the basic requirements and protocols to address this,” Poe said.
“Hindi man niya naisip ang buong larawan na mangyayari, pero kailangan may minimum standards tayong sinusunod,” she added.
Despite the appeals of the senators, President Rodrigo Duterte said his appointed health chief would “stay put.”
But Senator Panfilo Lacson, one of the signatories in the resolution, said their call was for Duque to resign and does not involve the President.
“Di na namin involve si (President Rodrigo Duterte)…. Hindi kami nanawagan sa Pangulo. Ang panawagan na ito, appeal or demand or kung ano man ang interpretation, alang alang sa bayan natin dahil marami nang palpak na nangyayari, e baka pwedeng mag-resign ka na o ibigay mo sa iba na competent,” Lacson said in an interview on dzBB.
“May discussion na nangyari, may nag-suggest, sinabi roon, parang (changing horses in) midstream,” he added.
Lacson, however, said Senate President Vicente Sotto III came up with a basketball analogy to justify their call for the health secretary’s resignation even if the country is in the middle of a health crisis.
“Ang sagot namin ni (Senate President), yung structure ng DOH nariyan, it stays. Hindi naman gagalawin. Ang analogy nga ni (Senate President), basketball game, nagwawala at nagkakalat ang team captain mo, hindi mo ilalabas? Matatalo tayo,” Lacson said.
“Ang ganda ng analogy niya kasi matatalo tayo sa virus kung ang captain ball, ang nagdadala ng team, medyo wala sa condition, nagkakalat,” he added.
‘Really hurt’
Duque earlier admitted being “really hurt” by calls for him to step down.
He said he wished the senators would have been “more magnanimous” and “more appreciative” of the DOH’s efforts since the time the threat of COVID-19 began in the country.
He, nevertheless, apologized for his shortcoming but reasoned that the crisis is fairly new not only to the Philippines but to the whole world and that he has no previous experience in addressing such a pandemic.