Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — “Talagang mismanaged.”
This was how Senator Manny Pacquiao described the government’s COVID-19 pandemic response after presidential spokesperson Harry Roque defended it and berated a doctors’ group during an online meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Sa tingin ko hindi naman naresolba ang pandemya mas lalo pang lumala, pataas nang pataas ng mga cases ng infected [with] COVID. Talagang mismanaged, I’m sorry to say this but iyan ang nararamdaman ko,” Pacquiao said in a Teleradyo interview Monday.
(I think that the pandemic has yet to be resolved, the cases continue to rise. It is really mismanaged, I’m sorry to say this but that’s how I feel.)
Pacquiao said the government should focus on “massive vaccination” in order to minimize the number of deaths and hospitalization among Filipinos.
“Dapat mag-focus tayo sa massive vaccination dahil yan po ang nakikita ko sa ibang bansa bakit sila nakakapagbalik to normal na ang pamumuhay nila dahil yung focus nila is to vaccinate the people,” he said.
(We should focus on massive vaccination because that is what I see in other countries as the reason they are able to return to normal, because their focus is to vaccinate the people.)
Pacquiao was asked about Roque’s outbursts, clips of which were obtained by the Inquirer last week.
The Palace official was seen lashing out at a group of doctors appealing for a reconsideration of the government’s decision to relax quarantine curbs in Metro Manila.
“We employed the ‘entire government approach’ thinking about economic ramifications, thinking about the people (who) will go hungry. It does not mean that we care any less,” Roque had said with a raised voice.
Roque has since apologized for turning “emotional” during the online meeting.