The landmark legislation that gave President Rodrigo Duterte special fiscal powers to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic did not require government to spend for mass coronavirus testing, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Tuesday (May 19).
“There is no provision in the (law) which makes mass testing mandatory or makes the expenses for testing a charge on government funds,” Pimentel told the INQUIRER, referring to Republic Act No. 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Pimentel, himself a COVID-19 survivor, added that private enterprises need not spend even for the rapid tests for their employees as the Department of Health (DOH) earlier mentioned.
Told that the law included a provision requiring the government to “facilitate prompt testing by public and designated private institutions,” Pimentel replied: “Please point out where the phrase ‘mass testing’ is found. Haven’t seen the phrase yet.”
On Monday (May 18), presidential spokesperson Harry Roque admitted that the government had “no program” to conduct mass testing for coronavirus, which many health experts believed was key to fighting the pandemic.
Roque, instead, said private businesses, many of which had been pleading for bailout programs from the government, should just bankroll the cost of having their employees tested for coronavirus.