MANILA, Philippines —Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told senators that he would do some “soul-searching” if his “best” had not been “enough” in leading the country’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic as he admitted lapses in the government’s initial response to the crisis.
“I took full responsibility for my decisions and actions. And the effort…I’m trying my best. There was never a time that I never tried my best but if my best is not enough, I just have to do some more reflection and soul-searching,” Duque said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Duque also said it was “extremely difficult” for the world to cope with COVID-19 when it first gripped countries across the world.
“There had been some lapses in terms of our initial response,” he added.
Before this, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon zeroed in on what he called were “erroneous decisions” made when the coronavirus first hit the country early this year.
Drilon pointed to Duque’s reluctance to ban travelers from Wuhan, China, where coronavirus infections first broke out.
The senator also questioned the health chief’s previous advice to the public that the wearing of face masks was not mandatory.
Responding to issues raised by Drilon, Duque said his initial directives were guided by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Since the virus was evolving, not much is known about it. I thought being the member state of the World Health Organization, I placed my trust…on the WHO because they have people on the ground, they know what is happening,” the health secretary said.
He noted, however, that there was a certain point when he had questioned WHO’s refusal to immediately declare a state of public health emergency over the spread of the coronavirus.
He said that was when he convened the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases and decided to recommend the ban of nationals from Wuhan and its nearby provinces.
“That was I think January 31. Two days after that, upon much deliberation, we decided to extend the ban to entire China and two of its special administrative regions,” Duque recalled.
Addressing his earlier advice on the wearing of face masks, Duque also said it was guided by the WHO.
“Merong WHO guidelines na hindi naman po kailangan pang mag-mask and so ‘yun naman po pinaniwalaan namin,” he said, noting that most of the Department of Health’s (DOH) “technical know-how” are based on WHO guidelines.
The health chief further stressed that the actions and measures done by the DOH in its initial response to the virus were a product of “honest assessment of all the data and facts that were coming in.”
“The steps that we needed or measures that we needed to execute, we had to cull as much information as we could and the WHO was the source of information that I felt was going to guide our actions,” he added.
“The blindspots are overwhelming. What we think is right on Monday, [on] Tuesday, the whole situation changes. Madaming pabago-bago,” Duque, however, said.
Still, Drilon noted that Vietnam seemed to have responded better than the Philippines despite both countries relying on the same guidelines set by the WHO.
“The fact is: What we face today is very harsh. The longest lockdowns, which have brought the economy to its knees and it cannot be disputed that all of this would be attributed to our erroneous decisions at the start,” the senator told Duque.
“Whereas a comparable country like us with 95 million inhabitants and an economy like ours, and I’m talking about Vietnam, has been able to control the virus,” he added.
He said he hopes Duque would be “candid enough” to admit responsibility as head of the country’s health system.
“You should assume some responsibility for this. E nagtuturuan tayo palagi e,” Drilon added.
To this, Duque said he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.
But he stressed that the lapses made in the country’s initial response to the virus “were not deliberate.”
In April, several senators urged Duque to step down for alleged “failure of leadership, negligence, (and) lack of foresight” in addressing the pandemic.
A month later, Duque drew so much flak for announcing that the Philippines was already experiencing its second wave of COVID-19 infections.
He also recently found himself facing criticisms for claiming that the country had successfully flattened the pandemic curve even as the confirmed that COVID-19 cases continued to increase every day.
He later clarified this, saying the country’s COVID-19 curve was “bent” and not “flattened” since April.
Despite all of these, President Rodrigo Duterte said he continued to trust his Health secretary. He even consoled Duque during a meeting in Malacañang by asking him not to be too touchy about the criticisms. [ac]