President Rodrigo Duterte during a Cabinet meeting in Malacanang. Screengrab from RTVM live feed / PCOO
MANILA, Philippines — Let President Rodrigo Duterte say what he wants to say.
This was what Malacañang said when sought for comment over the President’s remark calling the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) “mukhang pera” (greedy).
“Let’s allow na lang the President to say what he wants to say. Let that remain on record, bahala na po ang (it’s up to the) PRC to construe what the President said,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised briefing on Friday.
Duterte made the comment after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reported that the PRC’s suspension of swab tests resulted in a decrease in the country’s COVID-19 reporting.
PRC chairman Senator Richard Gordon has responded to Duterte, saying the President should avoid his impulsive comments and denied that the humanitarian organization was being greedy.
The PRC earlier halted conducting COVID-19 tests for the government after the Philippines Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) failed to settle some P930 million it owed for previous tests.
It resumed COVID-19 testing for the government after PhilHealth recently settled half of its debt.