Duque draws flak at Senate after getting praised by Duterte

SELF-PROTECTION Dr. Richard Mata, an expert in infectious diseases, explains howto use the N95 mask during a Senate hearing on Tuesday on the government’s response to the new virus spreading from China. The Department of Health has said people need not wear masks unless they are sick, taking care of sick relatives, or visiting ailing relatives in hospitals. —LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — Despite praise from President Rodrigo Duterte for the job he is doing to keep a new virus epidemic in China from spilling into the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III came under fire in the Senate on Tuesday, with at least two legislators accusing him of “failure of leadership” for the incomplete tracing of the passengers on three flights taken by two Chinese nationals who have come down with the pneumonia-like illness here.

The Chinese couple are from the city of Wuhan, in the central Chinese province of Hubei, epicenter of the epidemic that has already killed more than 420 people and sickened more than 20,400 in China, and spread to 25 other countries, including the Philippines.

Subordinates blamed

The 38-year-old woman was reported on Thursday as the Philippines’ first confirmed virus case. The 44-year-old man died on Saturday and was reported by the World Health Organization as the first death from the epidemic outside mainland China.

Answering questions from members of the Senate health committee on Tuesday, Duque said the Department of Health (DOH) had tracked down only 17 percent of the passengers because the airlines invoked confidentiality. He blamed his subordinates while castigating them for failing to inform him of the problem.

“It’s not a failure of leadership. I think it’s probably just a question of incompetence on the part of some of those who form part of the orchestra,” Duque told reporters after the hearing.

He said he would convene the DOH epidemiology bureau and assess how it carried out his directive to track down the other passengers on the flights taken by the Chinese couple.

“Heads will roll, of course,” he said, adding that the bureau was the only one, so far, where he had encountered a problem.

Duque also said the DOH was observing a patient who could be the Philippines’ third case of the new coronavirus.

He said the DOH would issue a report on the patient on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday night, President Duterte said he was confident the public health was in good hands with Duque heading the job of staving off the epidemic, which broke out in Wuhan in December and had since become a global health emergency.

“We have a very hardworking secretary of health. And he’s very sincere in his job,” Duterte said.

‘Failure to communicate’At Tuesday’s Senate hearing, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade attributed the incomplete contact tracing to a “failure to communicate,” as the government’s aviation bodies that coordinate with airlines were the ones that should have done the job.

The airlines might not listen to the DOH, Tugade said.

But Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the buck stops with Duque, and the health chief should not point the finger at his subordinates.

“I think it’s not just a failure of communication but also a failure of leadership on the part of the health department,” Pangilinan said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the DOH was the lead agency in dealing with the health emergency, based on the principle of unity of command.

“[T]his is a health issue, and the DOH should be the first line of defense and should be designated as the Office of Primary Responsibility. You shouldn’t be blaming other people,” Lacson said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva said tracing only 17 percent of the other passengers on the three flights was “unacceptable.”

“We wanted to find out who’s in charge, who’s accountable because we say we’re ready, we’re doing everything we can, and then we hear from the horse’s mouth that they can’t be contacted and there was no coordination on how they can help,” Villanueva said.

Privacy

Answering questions from Sen. Nancy Binay, Duque said tracking down the other passengers was not easy because the airlines had invoked privacy.

“I’m told these airlines are invoking the Data Privacy Act. This is rather strange in a time of a rather urgent situation. I don’t understand why this is the case,” Duque said, adding that he would have the “inappropriate” action investigated.

The National Privacy Commission issued a statement on Tuesday, saying the law allows airlines to give information to the DOH during health emergencies.

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro said a health emergency such as the new virus epidemic merited DOH access to passenger information from airlines.

Privacy is “a right, but not an absolute right,” Liboro said.

Caesar Ordoyo, Philippine Airlines vice president for security, said PAL and Cebu Pacific had submitted to the epidemiology bureau the names of the passengers who were seated nearest to the Chinese couple. PAL had contacted 74 of the 132 passengers on the plane, he said.

In a statement issued later on Tuesday, Cebu Pacific said it had submitted the lists of passengers on the flights taken by the Chinese couple as requested by the DOH and the Bureau of Quarantine.

It said it had gotten in touch with the passengers and updated the authorities on those under observation it had spoken with.

Cebu Pacific said it had also opened a hotline for the passengers on the two flights taken by the Chinese couple to contact the airline.

Call for unity

Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, the health committee chief, said that while he was satisfied with Duque’s actions in leading the government’s response to the new coronavirus, the DOH should improve its coordination with other agencies.

Go, however, said this was not the time to point fingers at public officials, and called for unity in dealing with the health emergency.

“There should be more and frequent coordination among the members of the interagency task force,” Go said, referring to the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases headed by the DOH.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, advised Duque to seek assistance from the PNP in tracking down the other passengers on the flights that took the Chinese couple from Hong Kong to the Philippines and to Cebu and Dumaguete cities last December.

“I guarantee you that the police will be able to account for all of them in 24 hours,” Dela Rosa said.

After the hearing, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to help the DOH track down other people who had interacted with the Chinese couple, and go after people who were spreading “misinformation and fake news” about the new virus epidemic.—With reports from Julie M. Aurelio, Roy Stephen C. Canivel, Marlon Ramos and Dona Z. Pazzibugan