Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has the command responsibility to replace “problematic” leaders of the government’s COVID-19 task force, which led to the “poor” handling of the pandemic in the country, Senator Risa Hontiveros said Wednesday.
“He (Duterte) is really the one in the hot seat in terms of command responsibility,” Hontiveros said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
“An element of command responsibility [is] to replace people who are not qualified, who not doing their job well, lalo na’t isang taon na. It’s way more than the time we need, sobrang haba na ng pisi ng mga tao… something is not working,” she added.
(An element of command responsibility [is] to replace people who are not qualified, not doing their job well, especially that it’s been a year. It’s way more time than we need, the public has been patient enough for something that is not working.)
Hontiveros pointed to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who she described as “problematic.”
Duque serves as chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Problematic yung head ng IATF. Yung health secretary na nung isang taon pa lamang, mismong yung mga majority senators na colleagues namin ay nanawagan na palitan siya but he is still there in the saddle,” Hontiveros said.
(The head of the IATF is problematic. The health secretary who even majority senators have called for him to be replaced but he is still there in the saddle.)
The senator further pointed to the former military men involved in the government’s pandemic response. She said their expertise would have been of better use in the country’s national defense concerns, such as addressing issues in the West Philippine Sea, and not in a health task force.
“Perhaps it is a convenient excuse for the President na nandito itong mga tao na either hindi qualified sa position dahil hindi nila expertise iyon or kahit sila’y civilian, kahit pa health secretary at doctor ay hindi nagpapakitang gilas,” the senator said.
(Perhaps it is a convenient excuse for the President that these people are here, these people who are either not qualified for the position because it’s not their expertise, or even if they’re civilian or even the health secretary and doctor who is not performing well.)
She reiterated her call to overhaul the IATF and tap public health experts and epidemiologists to be at the helm of the task force for the delivery of a “quality health crisis response that we need.”
“The failure of equality management has to be laid on the doorstep of the IATF…The sorry state we are in right now ay dahil sa napaka-mahina at hindi mahusay na pandemic response sa pamumuno ng IATF,” she added.
(The failure of equality management has to be laid on the doorstep of the IATF… The sorry state we are in right now is because of the poor pandemic response led by the IATF.
“That’s why I’ve called for not a disbanding of the IATF — we need an IATF — pero overhaul nito [but to overhaul it],” she further said.