PUBLIC ADVISORY Makati Medical Center in Makati City has advised the public that the hospital has reached capacity for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus infections in Metro Manila continue to increase. —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo is urging the government not to be too defensive and avoid twisting the issues amid the public’s criticism of its response to the COVID-19 situation in the country, especially with a recent surge in infections.
In her Sunday radio program, Robredo asked the administration how it could fix problems spawned by the health crisis if the prevailing thought is that the government is doing an excellent job.
“Kapag naririnig natin iyong comment ng mga nasa pamahalaan, parang masyado pa ding defensive. Ako, sana hindi ganoon, dahil kung masyado tayong defensive, sinasabi natin na ‘excellent’ iyong ating pagsugpo, hindi natin mahahanapan ng solusyon,” Robredo told DZXL.
“Kapag sinasabi natin na may problema tayo, parang may tinu-twist pa. Naaalala ko dati noong sinabi ko iyong problema, parang sinabi pa na iniinsulto natin iyong mga frontliners—eh kabaligtaran, kabaligtaran, kasi ang sinasabi nga natin, ayusin natin, kasi iyong frontliners grabe na iyong sakripisyo,” she added.
The country registered its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases on Friday at 7,103. This was followed on Saturday with another record-high jump with 7,999 new cases.
Last March 8, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s insisted that the government was doing an excellent job in managing the pandemic situation.
READ: Palace touts ‘excellent’ action vs COVID-19 as PH nears 365 days under community isolation
However, when COVID-19 cases started to shoot up, Roque clarified that the government was doing an excellent job. When hashtags of #DutertePalpak trended — implying that the President is doing a bad job in handling the crisis — Roque placed the blame on the COVID-19 variants of concern, not the government’s incompetence, for the spike in the number of infections.
READ: Palace maintains gov’t was doing ‘excellent job’ until recently when new cases spiked
READ: As #DutertePalpak trends, Palace claims COVID-19 surge not due to gov’t incompetence
Robredo was also referring to Roque when she said that her observations and criticisms were interpreted by government officials as insulting to frontliners.
Last February 1, after Robredo blasted the government for its low-performance ranking compared to other countries and being more focused on propaganda instead of actually fixing the COVID-19 mess, Roque asked whether the Vice President is trying to insult health workers who are trying their best to minimize infections.
READ: Fix pandemic response instead of defending it — Robredo
READ: Palace hits Robredo for claiming gov’t is doing ‘propaganda’ in Covid response
Metro Manila and other areas in the country are now experiencing a new surge in COVID-19 cases, attributed by health experts to the spread of new variants of concern.
This has forced government offices to enforce uniform curfew hours from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. in Metro Manila. Travel to the Philippines was also disallowed except for returning overseas Filipino workers.
READ: Metro Manila adopts uniform 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew starting March 15
READ: PH will suspend entry of travelers from abroad except returning OFWs starting March 20
Robredo warned that if the government fails to properly address the surge, it may lead to hospitals and health care centers being overwhelmed — especially since the analytics group OCTA Research predicted that the country may have a total of 11,000 cases daily by the end of March if the surge is not stopped.
READ: OCTA Research warns of 11,000 daily COVID-19 cases by end-March
“Eh iyong problema nito, hindi kakayanin ng ating healthcare system. Hindi kakayanin ng ating hospitals. Ngayon nga, ‘di ba, maraming ospital sa Maynila ay na-reach na iyong kanilang parang red flag na capacity, kasi iyong ICU capacity [..] parang pumapalo na na halos 70%, iyon na iyong red flag,” Robredo explained.
“Ano ang implikasyon nito? Kapag napuno iyong ating mga ospital ng COVID patients, number one, kapag mayroon pang mga pasyenteng darating, hindi na natin maa-accommodate. Number two—na isa sa mga pinakamalaking problema—pati iyong mga non-COVID hindi na natin maaasikaso,” she added.