KIDS’ TURN Teens, accompanied by their parents, get inoculated against COVID-19 in Taguig City as the government ramps up its vaccine rollout, which now covers children 12 to 17 years old. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon debunked on Wednesday President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that the Philippines is winning the battle against COVID-19.
On the contrary, Drilon believes the country’s COVID-19 recovery “is still in limbo.”
“We are happy to hear the President saying that we are winning the battle against COVID-19,” the senator said during Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed P5.024 trillion national budget next year
“However, I think it’s too early to tell especially with the recent survey done by Bloomberg that our country is the least resilient among those surveyed and therefore, the worst place to be in during the pandemic, and…we face a long road to recovery,” Drilon said.
The Philippines still ranked last in 53 countries surveyed by Bloomberg in its latest COVID-19 Resilience Ranking.
The minority leader also noted that about 4 million Filipinos were still unemployed as of September while millions of families are experiencing involuntary hunger due to the pandemic.
The economy and other sectors like tourism are also still reeling from the pandemic, he pointed out.
“I think it’s difficult to dispute that our country’s recovery is still in limbo,” Drilon said, adding that any accomplishments in the fight against COVID-19 could still be reversed when new and more contagious variants of the coronavirus enter the country.
“I’m pointing this out Mr. President to emphasize the importance of the budget that we are now considering,” he said.
The senator then said that the 2022 national budget “should provide the much-needed impetus for economic recovery and not because of the election.”
“ Ito po ay budget ng taumbayan, budget ng ating bansa, hindi po budget ng mga kandidato,” Drilon stressed.