There’s more to fighting COVID-19 than pesticides, masks, Robredo answers Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — There’s more than can be done to fight the COVID-19 pandemic beyond providing hospitals and funeral parlors — and “spraying pesticide” over the country, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Monday night in reaction to the remarks made by President Rodrigo Duterte in his pre-recorded address, which was aired just moments earlier.

“Watched the regular Monday Presscon tonight. I can’t help but have takeaways from the speech. It seems not enough just to have hospitals, beds, and funeral parlors and merely wait for a vaccine,” Robredo said in her personal Facebook page.

“Number one: Spraying pesticide all over Metro Manila from an airplane is not a solution,” she added.

Duterte made his statement about spraying pesticide in a sarcastic tone, insisting that the only way to keep the virus away was through wearing masks while waiting for a vaccine to become available.

He mentioned Robredo several times in his speech, criticizing her for saying that the government was doing enough to fight COVID-19.

Duterte also said administration officials had been doing everything they can — selecting all available hospitals and other facilities, even funeral parlors, that can be used to service COVID-19 patients and fatalities.

But Robredo said there were a lot of other things that could be done to help the country cope better with the pandemic.

She listed four measures that the government could focus on:

• Using medical and non-medical interventions to combat the virus that causes the disease
• Addressing the poverty, hunger,  unemployment, mental distress, and other problems caused by the pandemic
• Restructuring public and private finances
• Rebuilding the economy in an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable way

Vice President Leni Robredo posted this on her personal Facebook page in reaction to President Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks.

Monday’s exchange between the country’s top two officials was the latest during the pandemic.

Members of the opposition have been criticized the Duterte administration for prioritizing other things over the measures to fight the pandemic — such as enacting the Anti-Terrorism Act, the ABS-CBN shutdown, ties with China, and overlaying a part of the Manila Bay shoreline with crushed dolomite.

Recently, Robredo also mentioned that the government seemed to have no leader and not in control of the situation.

During her Sunday AM radio program, “BISErbisyong LENI, Robredo again noted that the administration had been issuing flip-flopping statements, often contradicting each other — another indication of a lack of leadership.

READ: Robredo: Periodic assessment better than a state of calamity until 2021

[atm]