Cheers to five months’ worth of quarantine!
There is a twisted belief of the government that the Philippines is doing its best in handling the pandemic and that it is a so-called ‘blessing in disguise’. Such a declaration carries an error. There is a very fine print there that says, “Oh and we still have incoming positive patients and have already lost thousands of lives.”
Here’s the reality check: hospitals are full, 7.3 million Filipinos are unemployed throughout the pandemic, students are suffering due to online learning, and the country is dealing with issues of corruption and terrorism alongside the crisis. All these took place in a span of just five months.
Even after having the country labelled as one of the worst in handling the pandemic, the Duterte administration continues to showcase incompetence and instill terror into many Filipinos. This inept character can be seen in the failure of the government to employ travel restrictions and emergency measures as early as the pandemic started to spread out, in the harsh penalties for quarantine violators when these people were only trying to find ways to survive, and in the continuous misjudgment of the administration on the virus.
The problem the country currently faces is the inconsistent, meandering, and contradictory statements and orders coming from the administration paired with the prevalent laxity towards prioritizing the medical and health sectors. Because of these, the public has insistently been demanding for concrete plans to address the crisis but were rather left unheard. Then, as if filling the gap the President created, Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo comes forth with suggestions and a comprehensive plan for combatting COVID-19.
Right now, rather than waiting for a vaccine to arrive at the doorsteps of Malacañang, the extensive plan covering detailed approaches to address the pandemic is what the country needed, and still needs, to halt the overwhelming number of positive cases.
Ever since COVID-19’s onslaught, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has been very proactive in addressing the problems faced by the citizens. While the Duterte administration fails to establish a robust infrastructure to combat the virus, the OVP proceeded to create shuttle services and dorms, and distributed PPEs for medical front liners as well as assist locally stranded individuals (LSIs) to return home.
Though the OVP has handled minimal matters in comparison to that of the President, Robredo displays a quality much needed in this time—flexibility. As the admin keeps a narrow view on the pandemic, Robredo knows which individuals to approach in matters relating to the economic, livelihood, and health security of the public and is very receptive to different points of view. At this point, the country needs someone who is willing to put experts at the helm of strategic planning.
Rather than an impassioned speech, VP Leni Robredo came forth last August 24, 2020 with a list of 11 logical recommendations for the Duterte administration. This followed her speech and letter of queries and proposals the month before. These came to address backlogs in the Department of Health (DOH) statistics, support for healthcare workers, LSIs, and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), contact tracing’ securing a safety net for those recently unemployed and small businesses, ways to enhance digital infrastructures, transparency of funds, and many others.
These suggestions, both written and in the form of a video address, were commented by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque to have been done and addressed already. Following this, the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo slammed the Vice President for being ‘completely ignorant’ of how her suggestions have already been undertaken.
Despite the administration’s proclamation on acting on these matters, Cavite City is still far behind in their contact tracing efforts, having an estimate of four contacts per tracer instead of the average 30-37, the unemployment insurance bill is still pending to be passed into law, acts on improving the digital infrastructure of the country is still nowhere to be found, and actions by the national government to provide free swab tests to LSIs are still unknown.
The response to VP Leni Robredo’s recommendations at this point appears to be a matter of pride. While the Vice President voices out the sentiments of many, the administration sees it as a play of politics instead of an opportunity to connect with the OVP in order to create a much more efficient roadmap in addressing the pandemic. With this kind of treatment, aren’t we just playing more and more into the clumsy hands of the government? How would we then be able to overcome the pandemic?
The way things are going, it’s obvious that the country will never be able to combat the war against COVID-19 with the current militaristic style the administration is employing. While it can never be assured that the Vice President’s leadership will be better than that of the President’s, the country needs an empathetic leader rather than an iron fist to sew the divided government and citizens back together to march in unison.
Those at helm cannot be hastily replaced now, hence the Duterte administration should be more geared to receive ideas and communicate with the OVP, and the experts, to create a balance in leadership that can put the public’s trust back in the government.
If the Duterte administration and the OVP can come to a compromise, perhaps one day we will see the end of the pandemic.
