“‘Wag na lang tayo magsisihan kasi nandiyan na rin ‘yan (COVID-19).”
[Let us not blame each other because it’s (COVID-19) already there.]
This was President Rodrigo Duterte’s words as he urged Filipinos to stop blaming others amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a day after the Philippines’ COVID-19 cases soared over 30,000.
Duterte said the rise in the number of COVID-19 patients in Cebu province was somehow made worse by local officials pointing fingers at each other.
Duterte also said he will send Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to Cebu to monitor the local situation and advise government “what they should be doing” in the province.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go’s pet project, “Balik Probinsya,” has also been criticized for lack of coordination with local government units. Beneficiaries of the said program tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in their hometown provinces, increasing the risk of transmission in low-risk areas.
Lawmakers have also been insisting on Health Secretary Francisco Duqe III’s rsignation from his post due to his department’s alleged failures to contain the outbreak in the Philippines, despite a nearly 2-month lockdown in Metro Manila and other populated provinces.
To date, the Philippines has 30,682 COVID-19 cases with 8,143 recoveries and 1,177 deaths.
