(Eagle News) — Health Secretary Francisco Duque IIII appealed to his detractors for them to work with the Department of Health as a team, as he promised to answer their allegations in due time after the COVID-19 crisis.
Duque made his appeal as senators filed a resolution seeking his resignation.
“Let us work as a team, as one country fighting for the health and safety of all. I will continue to serve the country to the best of my abilities. Magtulungan po tayo,” he said in a statement.
“We are at war with an invisible enemy which to this day remains unpredictable. As such, we adapt and innovate,” he said.
“Despite all the challenges and limited resources, DOH is making sure that we, as a nation, have a fighting chance against COVID-19. This is not a fight of one man or of one agency, it is a fight for all of us Filipinos,” he stressed.
Duque promised to answer allegations made by the senators on his alleged deficiencies and negligence as head of the Department of Health.
“We will answer these allegations in due time, but right now, we will continue to be in the trenches with our health care workers and frontliners,” he said.
At least 14 senators signed Senate Resolution No. 362 seeking Duque’s resignation.
Led by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the other senators who signed the resolution were Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, Francis Tolentino, Bong Revilla, Imee Marcos, Lito Lapid, Ping Lacson and Manny Pacquiao.
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, the President’s former close aide, did not sign the resolution, saying this was not the time to change the head of the DOH.
The 14 senators who signed the resolution cited Duque’s alleged “failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight and inefficiency.”
They claimed that the DOH made late recommendations in banning flights to and from China, was slow to do contact tracing of the first confirmed cases, and failed to immediately provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers.
More than 185 countries, including the Philippines, are tackling the COVID-19 pandemic with infections increasing in almost all continents. Due to the sudden spike in cases all over the world, no less than the World Health Organization has warned that the lack of supply in PPE worldwide could endanger health care workers in the frontlines.
Worldwide, health care workers also noted the lack of PPEs that contributed to many treating patients in hospitals to contract the disease and die.
(Eagle News Service)
