Roque blasts COVID-19 response critics: Hindi kami natutulog sa pansitan

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Thursday slammed critics of the Duterte administration’s efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the government’s recent “game-changer” programs to respond to the health crisis.

During the launch of the StaySafe.ph app in Manila, Roque cited the pooled swab testing has started in Makati which allots a single reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing kit for a group of persons instead of just one.

“Kahapon nagkaroon ng game changer sa Makati, dahil sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon nagkaroon tayo ng pooled testing. Ibig sabihin, ang isang test kit, pu-pwede na sa limang tao, magiging mas mura na ang testing,” he said.

(Yesterday, we had a game-changer in Makati because, for the first time, we conducted pooled testing. This means one test kit is for five people which makes testing cost-effective.)

He also cited the launching of StaySafe.ph app in Manila, which uses an online platform to find close contacts of positive patients.

“Dito sa siyudad ng Maynila kung saan ako pinanganak, game changer na rin po ang ginagawa natin ngayon dahil sa pamamagitan ng (Stay)Safe.ph, ginagamit natin ang teknolohiya para malaman natin kung sino dapat i-isolate. Kung sino dapat i-trace,” he said.

(In Manila, where I was born, we are doing game-changing tactics because using the app, we will use the technology to know who should be isolated, who should be traced.)

Roque then took a swipe at critics, saying they are just “jealous.” To underscore his point, he looked back to the public uproar against the Aquino administration for lapses in responding to areas affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

“Ito po yung mga hakbang na nagpapakita na hindi totoo ang sinasabi ng mga kritiko ng Duterte administration. Inggit lang po sila dahil nung sila nakaupo sa pwesto tignan niyo kung ano ang ginawa nila, doon po sa Visayas nang dumaan po ang Bagyong Yolanda,” the Palace official said.

(These are the initiatives that show the criticisms against the Duterte admin are not true. They are just jealous because  when they were at the government, look at what they did at the Visayas when super typhoon Yolanda happened.)

“Hindi po natutulog sa pansitan ang administrasyong Duterte. Ngayon po sa araw na ito magsisimula na tayo ng teknolohiya para lalong mapaigting ang ating contact tracing sa ilaim ng tracing czar mayor Benjie Magalong,” he added.

(It is not true that the Duterte government is sleeping on this. Today, we will start on using technology to intensify contact tracing under testing czar Magalong.)

To date, the Philippines logged a total of 226,440 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 158,610 recoveries and 3,623 deaths. [ac]