Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque rejected the claim made by Vice President Leni Robredo accusing the Duterte administration of focusing on propaganda which negatively affected the quality of the government’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
In his regular press briefing, Roque pointed out that the country’s global ranking is based on the efforts and hard work of Filipino medical frontliners to curb the transmission of virus.
“Dapat tanggapin at dapat pasalamatan po ang medical frontliners na talaga naman pong ginagawa ang lahat para mapangalagaan ang kalusugan ng mga Pilipino. It is unfair to refer to their work output as propaganda,” Roque said
Roque also cited the World Health Organization’s report that showed the Philippines is currently 32nd in terms of COVID-19 cases, 45th in terms of active cases, and 72nd in terms of case fatality rate.
In her radio show on Sunday, Vice President Leni Robredo appealed to the Duterte administration to stop prioritizing its propaganda and work properly to respond to COVID-19 in the country.
“Dapat sana ‘yung response, ‘wag na tayo sa propaganda. ‘Yung response dapat tinutugunan papaano mare-resolve nang mas maaga. Kasi kapag mas matagal ‘yung ganito, mas marami tayong mga kababayan na maghihirap,” she said.
This statement was the vice president’s reaction to Lowy Institute’s latest report which placed the Philippines 79th out of 98 countries, lagging behind most of its Southeast Asian neighbors in pandemic response. The Philippine government’s handling of the global health threat was rated 30.6 out of 100.
