President Duterte's warning of more COVID-19 deaths should prompt the Department of Health (DOH) to act fast to prevent it, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Saturday, April 17.

Sotto believed that Duterte was addressing the DOH, and not the public, when he said last Thursday that the country should expect more deaths due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) amid the global shortage in vaccines.

"Siguro praktikal ang sinasabi niya, pero kung ako naman ang Department of Health, 'pag nagsalita ang President ng ganyan, aba, kumilos ka. Baka ikaw ang pinariringgan ng Presidente doon, hindi ang taumbayan (Maybe he was only being practical when he said it, but if I were the DOH, and the President blurts out statements like that, then I should act. Maybe the statement was directed at DOH, not the people)," the Senate chief said in an interview over radio DWIZ.

"Humanap ka ng treatment, humanap ka ng cure (Find a way to treat it, find a cure)," he added.

Sotto has been calling on the government not to focus only on the vaccines as a solution to the pandemic, but also on preventing and treating it to minimize deaths.

"While we are waiting for the vaccines, a lot of people are being infected and dying," he said during one of the Senate's plenary sessions last February.

On Saturday, Sotto expressed his frustration that "every time" a potential COVID-19 cure comes up, authorities "are quick to shoot it down".

He cited the proposed use of virgin coconut oil for COVID-19 treatment, as well as the use of anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.

"Ewan ko kung bakit ayaw nila eh, ang daming pwedeng subukan (I don't know why they are rejecting it, when there is a lot we can try)," Sotto said.

"Habang wala pang vaccine, ito treatment, cure saka prevention ang kapain niyo (While there is no vaccine yet, you should look into the treatment, cure and prevention of COVID-19)," he told the DOH.

"Sana naman ay nakikinig sila sa amin (I hope they are at least listening to us)," he appealed.

In his public address on Thursday, April 15, Duterte lamented the lack in the Philippines' vaccine supply, saying he does not know when the country would have enough vaccines to inoculate all Filipinos.

“Hanggang ngayon the word ‘unavailable’ is nandyan (Until now the word 'unavailable' is there). Unavailable, because there are not — there’s no sufficient supply to inoculate the world,” Duterte said.

“Matagal pa ito. Sabihin ko sa iyo marami pang mamamatay dito. Hindi ko lang maturo kung sino (This could take long. I am telling you, many more people will die from this disease. I just can't tell who),” he added.

Meanwhile, Sotto said he is open to resuming the Senate Committee of the Whole's inquiry on the government's COVID-19 response, as proposed by his colleagues amid the latest surge of new cases.

Senate Committee of the Whole hearings were conducted last year when issues were being raised about how the administration was handling the pandemic.