MANILA, Philippines – Recent accusations of misuse of COVID-19’s budget and the “poor leadership” of Secretary of Health Francisco Duque III led Senator Francis Pangilinan to vote the Bayanihan to recover as a law, or Bayanihan 2.
“It’s been seven weeks after this camera approved The Bayanihan 2 at the time of reading, incredibly disturbing news of alleged corruption at PhilHealth has made headlines in the country,” Pangilinan said, explaining his “no.”
Bayanihan 2 supplies for the Philippines reaction to COVID-19 and recovery interventions. The bill also allocates a reserve fund of 140 billing pesos for various support systems to cushion the effect of the pandemic on Filipinos.
“We voted no to the additional investment specified in Bayanihan 2 because we, the Duke Secretary, deserve to be fired before billions more are allowed to move to DOH (Ministry of Health),” Pangilinan said.
“We will have to ask you, as the country’s leading fitness officer and president of the IATF (Interagency Working Group for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases), to report on the continued spread of the disease among Filipinos,” he added.
Pangilinan criticized Duque for his attempt to fail coronavirus infections and flattened the country’s COVID-19 curve.
“His inability to curb corruption and prevent him from using the public budget to combat THE COVID pandemic, we voted no for the additional investment specified in Bayanihan 2,” the senator said.
“We cannot allow this leadership mediocrity to have more than billions of pesos of public budget and we cannot allow incompetence in the highest grades to continue to dominate and make mandatory decisions urgently to avoid extra economic losses, losses that are now making more than a trillion pesos,” he added.
“Unless Secretary Duke is fired or forced to resign as IATF president, the country will see more incompetence and corruption in the government’s efforts to combat the pandemic,” Pangilinan said.
“I am involved in the mediocre leadership that has been consistently displayed since the pandemic hit us, none of these thirteen interventions will be fulfilled or implemented and billions of budgets will be spent to achieve the effects we want to manage well the spread of the disease. He added.
Pointing to the pandemic reaction of other countries in the region, Pangilinan said the Philippines “has failed to prevent the spread of the disease and has failed to meet our own goals and deadlines for mass testing, tactile search and isolation.”
“Nearly five months after the close of March 15 and after experiencing the world’s longest network quarantine, the total number of COVID instances continues to increase with a total of 82040 instances and 1,657 new instances and deaths that now occur between 2000 and July 27, 2020. Pangilinan said.
“In contrast, to date, Thailand has 3,292 cases, Malaysia 8,897 and Vietnam 420 cases. The difference in numbers is disappointing,” he said.
This is the first time Duke has been criticized through a member of the Senate.
In April, Duque faced calls for the resignation of at least 14 senators, who presented a solution asking the fitness leader to resign his post.
“The Senate last April called for the sec’s resignation. Duke for his failure to lead the way. Unfortunately, his incompetence and worse, his link to corruption has been tolerated and left unpunished,” Pangilinan said.
“For the sake of the country’s health and to avoid the general collapse of the country’s economy, Duke will have to go. The country deserves more,” he said.
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