‘Maraming namamatay sa incompetence nila:’ Drilon hits DOH, IATF for ‘never-ending failure’

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon did not mince his words as he slammed the “incompetence” of the Department of Health (DOH) and the country’s national task force against COVID-19, which he said led to more fatalities due to the virus.

“Alam mo, wala nang katapusan ang kapalpakan ng DOH (Department of Health) at IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) at ito po ang dahilan sa pagpatuloy na dumadami ang araw-araw ang pagtaas ng kaso ng COVID-19, mahigit 12,000 ang namatay,” Drilon said in an interview over Teleradyo.

(You know, the failure of the DOH and the IATF is never-ending and this is the reason why the number of cases is rising, over 12,000 have already died due to COVID-19.)

“Maraming namamatay dahil sa incompetence ng mga taong ito,” he added.

(Many have died because of the incompetence of these people.)

His latest criticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic was triggered by an alleged draft administrative order barring several companies “in conflict with public health” from procuring COVID-19 vaccines.

The supposed draft administrative order, Drilon earlier noted, stated that the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) and the DOH will be tasked to “review the requests of private entities to procure vaccines to ensure that private entities who will be part of the agreement are not in any way related to the tobacco industry, products covered under [Executive Order] 51 series of 1986 or the ‘National Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, breastmilk Supplement and Other Related Products’ or other industries in conflict with public health.”

“Itong mga kumpanyang ito ang siya din nagbabayad ng buwis, ang laki ng buwis na binabayad nito,” the minority leader pointed out.

(These companies pay taxes, they pay a lot of taxes.)

“And yet sasabihin mo, ‘Aba e hindi kayo pwedeng magbigay ng bakunang libre sa inyong mga empleyado.’ E talagang kapalpakan, hindi na po nagiisip itong mga taga DOH at taga IATF ng kanilang mga regulasyon,” he said.

(And yet you’ll say “Well, you can’t buy vaccines for your employees.” This is really a failure on their part, the DOH and the IATF are not thinking when it comes to their regulations.)

On Sunday, DOH said the supposed draft administrative order that has been circulating is not yet final and that the department and the NTF “are still in the process of reconciling the proposed provisions with other existing laws and guidelines.”

“The [DOH] was made aware of the circulation of an unofficial draft DOH Administrative Order outlining some selected sections of the draft Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of Republic Act No. 11525 or the COVID-19 Vaccination Law,” it said in a statement.

The DOH then emphasized that the government “commits to provide all Filipinos equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines following the prioritization criteria and list approved by the [IATF].”

JE