Red Cross: We don’t deserve ‘mukhang pera’ tag from Duterte

President Duterte called the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) “mukhang pera” (money hungry) when the humanitarian group, which has been helping the administration respond to the pandemic, stopped testing for coronavirus and then resumed after the government partially paid what it owed.

Sen. Richard Gordon, the PRC chair, on Friday said that he was not offended but that the Red Cross did not deserve the “not really presidential” remark.

Gordon had insisted that PRC be paid at least partially before resuming operations as it didn’t have enough funds to replenish its supplies, including COVID-19 test kits.

Since setting up its own laboratory in April, the Red Cross has been testing Filipinos returning from overseas, front-line and government workers and other individuals swabbed in state facilities, charging the service to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth). It separately charges private individuals.

When it received no payment for its bill amounting to about P1 billion last month, PRC stopped its tests for the government on Oct. 15. It promptly resumed on Oct. 28 after the state insurer made a partial payment of P500 million. PhilHealth later paid an additional P200 million.

Drop in tests

In a Thursday night meeting that was televised, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reported to the President that the number of tests nationwide dropped after PRC decided to stop testing.

He said the Department of Health initially projected a 20-percent decline in total testing capacity without the PRC, but 11 laboratories took up the backlog.

According to PRC, at full operation it could conduct an average of 12,000 tests daily, representing between a quarter and a third of the country’s total test output.

“PRC has been paid and it has reopened, so it now continues to process swab specimen,” Duque reported to the President.

In response, Mr. Duterte remarked: “Mukhang pera (money hungry)!”

He did not elaborate.

The President last month assured PRC that the government would pay what it owed. He said the payment might take some time and he would look for the funds, but promised to settle the government’s obligation.

Presidential ‘slip’

Gordon said he was taking Mr. Duterte’s remark on Thursday night “with a grain of salt” as the President might have been fed wrong information or misled into believing that PRC was making unreasonable demands in asking to be paid the full amount.

“I’m not offended. I think the President should be careful because sometimes, he does not realize that the statement is not really presidential,” Gordon told reporters in a Zoom interview.

“I think he was too hasty or he didn’t get the right information or he might be referring to those [private facilities] taking advantage of [the halt in PRC’s testing],” he added.

The President “might have had a slip” in describing PRC as greedy, Gordon said.

“I don’t think we deserve it. We’ve been helping the government for so long. We’ve been working with government since its founding,” he said.

Under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, PRC is the primary auxiliary to the government in giving aid to Filipinos during the pandemic, but should be reimbursed for some of its expenses.

Gordon said PhilHealth still had P377 billion to settle with PRC.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he would leave it up to PRC to construe Mr. Duterte’s remark.

“Let’s allow the President to say what he wants to say, let that remain on record,” Roque said.

Private lab rates

Gordon said last week that some private laboratories were jacking up their testing prices when PRC halted the tests.

He said they were charging as much as P20,000 for results to be delivered in less than 24 hours, and P10,000 for results in 24 hours.

“The lack of testing by the Red Cross has opened opportunities for private laboratories,” Gordon said.

In Thursday’s meeting with the President, Duque reported that damage from Typhoon “Rolly” (international name: Goni) and the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day holidays stopped the operation of as many as 30 laboratories around the country. There are 159 laboratories nationwide able to test for the coronavirus.

The typhoon could also delay the submission of reports, tests and contact tracing in Metro Manila, Southern Luzon, and the Bicol and Mimaropa regions, he said.

Effective communication

Duque said the drop in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country could be attributed to the effective communication to the public of the need to comply with basic health measures, such as wearing face masks and shields, physical distancing, and proper hand-washing.

“It looks like the Filipinos are following these, Mr. President. Their compliance has improved,” he said.

Also helping keep the numbers down was the isolation and quarantine of mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and the close watch on critical cases, he said.

The treatment success rate in hospitals has also been improving because of new drugs and more effective clinical management of the severe and critical cases, he added.

The government will continue its prevent, detect, isolate, and treat strategy, Duque said.

—WITH A REPORT FROM JOVIC YEE