Malacañang on Thursday said that Philippines is still on the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in direct contrast to the health chief’s earlier declaration that the country was already seeing a second wave of infections.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque offered that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III only had a “different opinion” when the he told senators in a hearing Wednesday that the Philippines was already on its second wave of coronavirus infections.
“Tama po ang ating Presidente, dapat po ay gumawa tayo ng mga hakbang para makaiwas sa second wave. Tayo po ngayon ay nasa first wave,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
[The President is right, we should avoid a second wave. We are currently on the first wave.]
Roque also said that the health chief did not inform the President of his opinion on a supposed second wave of infections and apologized to the public for causing great confusion over the conflicting remarks of government officials and medical consultants.
“Nagpapaumanhin po kami kung kayo ay naalarma pero ang katunayan po ang siyensya naman po at importante ang pagbasa sa mga waves para alam natin ang gagawin na response,” he said.
[We apologize if the public was alarmed but science and understanding waves are important in preparing our response.
The spokesperson also said the first few reported cases earlier this year should not be considered as a wave because these are not community-transmitted cases.
When asked if the health chief was wrong in his statement, Roque said Duque only had a different opinion.
“Sabihin na lang natin hindi nagkamali, kundi nagkaroon ng kakaibang opinyon,” Roque said.
[Let’s just say that he wasn’t wrong but had a different opinion.]
“Ang medisina para rin mga abogado ‘yan. Iisa lang ang batas namin, iba-iba ang interpretasyon. Ganyan din po siguro sa medisina, iisa ang siyensya, iisa ang datos, iba ang basa,” he added.
[Medicine is like law. There is only one law but there are different opinions. It may be the same with Medicine. There is one science, a single source of data, but they read it differently.]
But despite the conflicting declarations within government officials, Roque assured the public that the government is doing its best in preventing a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
