By Hannah Torregoza
Any criticisms targeted at President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration would not help the government resolve the threat of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) in the country.
Go, in an interview over GMANewsTv, said critics of the government could attend the Senate Committee on Health’s hearing on the Tuesday, February 4, to air their grievances against the government’s response to the novel coronavirus.
Senator Christopher "Bong" Go
(PRIB Photo by Cesar Tomambo /29 July 2019)
“Yung bashers and netizens, imbitado kayong sumali doon, at doon ninyo ilahad ang lahat ng gusto niyong iparating sa mga opisyales. Harap-harapan ninyong sabihin, (Bashers and netizens, all of you are invited to participate there, and you can express all you want to say to our officials. Tell them face to face what you want to say),” Go said.
“Kasi hindi nakakatulong yung pambabatikos niyo sa gobyerno at sa mga opisyal. Sa panahong ito, dapat magkaisa tayo, magbayanihan tayo (Your criticisms are not helping the government and the officials. During this time, we should be united),” he stressed.
As to the President’s late response on the travel ban, Go said the Duterte administration was already doing its best to balance the interest of all stakeholders concerned, including that of the Chinese nationals.
Nevertheless, Go said the government was giving primary importance to the welfare of the Filipino people.
“Binabalanse po ng gobyerno, ng Executive (ang lahat). Ako, bilang mambabatas po ako, very much concern ako bilang committee chair ng committee on health. Di naman po ako makakapagdesisyon dito, ang Executive po ang magdedesisyon dito, health officials lahat down to lahat ng miyembro ng interagency task force (The government, the executive department, is balancing everything. As a lawmaker, I too am very much concerned as committee chair of the health committee. But I am not the one deciding here. The Executive is the one making decisions here, from health officials, down to all the members of the interagency task force),” Go explained.
Duterte, he said, was carefully studying all the recommendations that are forwarded to him before making any decision.
“Hindi naman po basta-basta sasabihin ni secretary Duque i-ban na natin, ang impact po nito sa ekonomiya, di lang po sa Chinese nationals at sa lahat po ng pumapasok sa ating bansa, kino-consider po ng gobyerno yan (the government doesn’t just accept what (Health) Secretary (Francisco) Duque would say we will outrightly impose a ban. We are looking into the possible impact of such move to the economy. Not only to the Chinese nationals but also all the nationalities that enter the country, the government is considering all those things),” Go said.
“Intindihin po natin sila dahil rest assured po inuuna naman nila ang kapakanan ng bawat filipino, intees po ng bawat Pilipino (Let’s understand what they are doing, but rest assured, we are prioritizing the welfare of each Filipino, the interests of each Filipino),” he reiterated.