Red Cross ‘blackmailing’ gov’t? Gordon says ‘we’re not criminals’

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Red Cross (PRC) chair Senator Richard Gordon  found as “harsh” a lawmaker’s statement against the humanitarian organization warning it to “stop blackmailing the government.”

“He used a very harsh word ‘blackmail’,” Gordon told reporters in an online interview on Tuesday, referring to Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers.

“That’s associated with criminals…We are not criminals. We are humanitarians,” the senator added.

The non-payment of the over P1-billion debt of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) earlier prompted the PRC to stop conducting COVID-19 tests for the government on arriving overseas Filipino workers, passengers in airports and seaports, individuals asking for new coronavirus tests in government swabbing facilities, among others.

In a previous statement, Barbers said the PRC “has no right to impose on the government and demand payment for the alleged testings done on people.”

But Gordon said PhilHealth needs to pay its debt to the PRC so that the organization can replenish its supplies, like COVID-19 test kits.

The senator disclosed that the PRC had to cancel a chartered flight to China to get more test kits due to PhilHealth’s failure to settle its debt.

As Gordon cried foul over Barbers’ remarks, the senator said the PRC is almost finished with the construction of a molecular laboratory in the congressman’s home province.

“By the way, tell him thank you for allowing the Red Cross to serve his constituency we are putting up right now almost finishing the molecular laboratory in his home province in Surigao. I don’t think he knows that,” Gordon said. [ac]