With some sectors finding questionable the official statistics reported on the cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country, Senator Dick Gordon is calling for periodic reporting on the real state of the nation’s health from the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross, said that with the Senate having passed, on third and final reading recently, its version of a bill that extended the validity of special powers granted to President Rodrigo Duterte in response to the coronavirus pandemic, he would propose to conduct a hearing on the update on the government’s response against the contagion.
“Siguro within this week dapat magreport si Sec. Duque at ang IATF sa Senado at Kongreso para malaman natin kung ano talaga ang real state of the health of the nation. Approved naman na ‘yung Bayanihan Act II kaya dapat mag-report on the real state of health of the nation…Pag nagko-complain ang mga doctor at ang mga figures natin, hindi ako happy sa mga figures natin, hindi ko alam kung nakukuha natin lahat dahil ang laki ng population natin pero maliit ang lumalabas. Maybe may nakakalusot diyan, di natin namamalayan,” the veteran legislator said.
In its first plenary session after Duterte’s State of the Nation Address, the Senate approved Senate Bill 1564 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One-Act. It was dubbed “Bayanihan 2,” as it supplemented the first Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which was enacted on March 25.
The seasoned lawmaker said the Committee of the Whole should conduct a periodic hearing on the coronavirus response for the duration of the pandemic. The Committee conducted a hearing last May.
“Prepare your questions in advance to ensure that the resource persons would be able to answer them properly.”
The senator also urged his colleagues to prepare their questions in advance to ensure that the resource persons would be able to answer them properly, with properly presented facts and figures that would show the real situation in the country.
“Dapat ‘yung mga questions hindi knee-jerk reactions, dapat talaga nakahanda ‘yung mga questions para masasagot talaga ng maayos. Makapag-present sila ng maayos, ano talaga ang situation, saan tayo papunta. ‘Yun ‘yung sinasabi kong masterplan. Saan tayo papunta, hindi ‘yung bigla na lang sasabihing mag-lockdown tayo o mag-ECQ tayo,” he said.
“I am warning local government officials against sanitizing their reports to avert lockdowns in their jurisdictions.”
With the data reporting becoming an issue of business, livelihood, health and politics, the chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee also called on the DOH to report the true figures and warned local government officials against sanitizing their reports to avert lockdowns in their jurisdictions.
“Noon ko pa sinasabi na dapat nababantayan kung sino ang maysakit. Ang reporting of cases nagiging issue, ang issue diyan business, livelihood, health at saka politics. Dapat ang DOH, ibigay ang tunay na sitwasyon sa ating bayan. ‘Yung iba para hindi sila ma-lockdown kaya di nila nire-report kung ano kinamatay, delikado ‘yan. Kaya dapat talaga linisin lahat ‘yung pagre-report,” Gordon stressed.