House grilling of Duque reveals DOH’s predicament in coronavirus handling

MANILA, Philippines — Should the Department of Health (DOH) have declared a state of public health emergency even before President Rodrigo Duterte amid the threat posed by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country?

“Yes, I will concede to that.”

That was the response of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to the question of Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate after the latter cited a law that allows the health secretary to declare an epidemic and public health emergency if deemed necessary.

During the House committee on health’s meeting on COVID-19 status and response, Zarate said he was “surprised” that one year since the passage of Republic Act 11332 or the “Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases”, its Implementing Rules and Regulations  (IRR) has yet to be finished.

Section 7 of the law states: “The Secretary of Health shall have the authority to declare epidemics of national and/or international concerns except when the same threatens national security. In which case, the President of the Republic of the Philippines shall declare a State of Public Health Emergency and mobilize governmental and nongovernmental agencies to respond to the threat.”

Asked if the health department issued a declaration before Duterte declared a state of public health emergency over COVID-19, Duque said the World Health Organization (WHO) already declared public health emergency of international concern.

“Being a member country of the WHO, ipinaubaya po namin yung kanilang pagdeclare ng public health emergency of international concern (we submitted to their declaration of public health emergency of international concern). It’s a de facto declaration on my part,” Duque said.

However, Zarate questioned why Duque did not declare a state of public health emergency over COVID-19, especially when the law allows him to do so.

“Sa tingin ko mahalaga na prior to the declaration of the President, dahil kayo ang isang pangunahing may poder dito, ay nag-deklara kayo para ang lahat ng agencies ay ma-forward na, makapaghanda na,” Zarate said.

(I think it is important that prior to the declaration of the President, the health department should have made a declaration already so that all agencies can prepare.)

“Dahil ang tingin ko parang—pardon my term—nag-kampante tayo just because wala pang—that time siguro isa, dalawa tatlo pa lang yung cases and these are foreign nationals,” the lawmaker added.

(I think—pardon my term—we became complacent just because at that time there were only one, two, three cases and those cases were foreign nationals.)

At this time, Zarate asked Duque if the latter should have made the declaration.

Duque’s short response: “Yes, I will concede to that.”

Problem lies on supply, not budget

Zarate then said that if a declaration was made, the health department could have used the contingency fund available in the 2020 national budget.

Earlier this week, the House committee on appropriations approved a P1.6-billion supplemental budget for DOH’s response efforts to combat COVID-19.

But Zarate said this was not necessary as aside from the P13-billion contingency fund available from the national budget, there is also a P7.5-billion National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRM Fund) included in the budget.

The lawmaker said that of this NDRRM Fund, P600 million is allotted to the health department.

Duque, however, said the bigger problem faced by his office is not budget, but rather global supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing supplies.

“Just to drill down the point na ‘yung pondo ay di naman talaga problema (budget was not a problem), it’s really more on supply,” Duque said.