Zarate to Roque: COVID-19 crisis not a basketball game
MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate slammed the pronouncement of presidential spokesman Harry Roque that the country has beaten the prediction that the country would have 40,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of June.
Zarate said the coronavirus pandemic is not a basketball game that needs the best score to win.
“Hindi ito basketball na paramihan ng score. Buhay ang mga nakasalalay dito. Dapat agad itong tugunan,” he said in an online media forum.
(This is not a basketball game. The lives of Filipinos are at stake here. This should be addressed immediately.)
On Monday, June 30, Roque rejoiced at the fact that the Philippines only had over 36,000 COVID-19 cases since researchers from the University of the Philippines predicted that there would be 40,000 cases by the end of June.
“Today is the last day na pala, ano ba ang sinasabi ko. Panalo na tayo, we beat the UP prediction po. We beat it, so congratulations Philippines, let’s do it again in July,” Roque said.
(Today is the last day, what am I saying. We have won. We beat the UP prediction. We beat it so congratulations Philippines, let’s do it again in July.)
Zarate said that having only 36,000 cases by the end of June should not be celebrated since the number reflects the lives of Filipinos.
“Thirty six thousand cases is 36,000 lives of Filipinos ‘yan, hindi dapat ipinagbubunyi ‘yan (we shouldn’t be celebrating it),’” he said.
“‘Yan ang ating mensahe kay Harry Roque na kung kaya niya na makipaglaro lang sa mga lumba lumba at magswimming swimming, hindi ganon ang kalagayan ng ating mga mamamayan ngayon,” Zarate added.
(That is our message to Harry Roque that if he can swim with dolphins and swim, that is not the condition of Filipinos today.)
Zarate was referring to now-deleted photos posted by Ocean Adventure where Roque could be seen swimming with dolphins and conversing with two persons without a face mask.
He reiterated the Makabayan bloc’s call for mass testing of Filipinos to see a clearer picture of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
UP experts once again predicted that the number of COVID-19 cases may reach 60,000 by the end of July.
To date, 38,511 individuals in the country were confirmed to have COVID-19, of which 10,438 have recovered while 1,270 have died.
