PRRD's incompetent PCOO, the NCR lockdown, and China's offer to help
Published Mar 13, 2020 12:00 am
THINKING PINOY
By RJ NIETO
RJ Nieto
President Rodrigo Duterte announced Thursday evening that the government would be instituting, among others, stricter quarantine policies to decelerate the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The announcement came only hours after the Philippines registered its 52nd confirmed case.
I was quite reluctant to talk about the right way to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, especially since I am neither a doctor nor a government executive. However, I cannot help but break my silence as I see with my own eyes the chaotic manner by which the government communicates with the general public.
No, this is not about PRRD’s accent or his choice of words. That’s a superficial issue. Instead, I’m talking about PCOO’s and DOH’s haphazard communications strategy that seemingly causes more confusion than enlightenment.
PUBLIC COMMUNICATION, OR THE LACK OF IT
The DOH said it should be the primary source of COVID-19 information, yet its website frequently crashes. And when it actually loads up, looking for relevant information is like finding Waldo.
Yes, I agree that the DOH consists mostly of doctors, so I expect PCOO to assist DOH in disseminating information because doctors typically aren’t trained in public communication.
But there’s another problem: How can PCOO help DOH if PCOO can’t even do its own job?
Just days ago, Senator Nancy Binay correctly pointed out PCOO’s inaction over COVID-19 when she said in Tagalog, “ should not waste their time in whatever Europe roadshow because we should focus on the Philippines to fight the spread of COVID-19.”
“If can create an hour-long documentary on the drug war, then maybe it can create 2-minute infomercials in different dialects,” she added.
And PCOO’s incompetence stole the limelight again, right after that PRRD presser. PCOO’s job is to advise the President on communications-related matters, and that includes what, when, and how to disclose information to the public, something that PCOO aparently didn’t do.
The public, especially those in Metro Manila where a lockdown will soon take place, was obviously confused and scared after watching PRRD’s press conference. Hence, I was expecting PCOO to publish more details about the supposed lockdown, but there were none.
Why didn’t PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar advise the president to hold off the announcement of a lockdown pending the creation of an executive order and its implementing rules? Why don’t we see more COVID-19 infographics on PCOO’s page? Why are there no text alerts from NDRRMC, when COVID-19 is clearly a disaster?
PCOO even has medical doctor Lorraine Badoy as an undersecretary, so why does PCOO continually fail to communicate COVID-19 information to the public? Or is she still too preoccupied with explaining NPA stuff (which is not her forte) to Europeans who couldn’t care less about it?
PRRD, CHINA, AND COVID-19
Italy now has over 10,000 confirmed cases with over 1,000 casualties, and its government has ordered a nationwide lockdown as its healthcare system is slowly getting overwhelmed. After seeing what’s happened to Italy and in light of the rising number of local cases, it’s clear that COVID-19 is a primordial national security concern for Filipinos. For one, Filipino health officials themselves admit that our inferior healthcare system may not be able to handle the same number of COVID-19 patients.
PRRD, in the same presser, thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping after the latter told him that China is “willing to help and all we have to do is ask.”
Anti-China racism popped up again as some well-known opposition figures decried Duterte’s supposed subservience to the Chinese, with some media men even joining the fray. These people do not deserve any sort of power as they put their personal politics above the nation’s very survival.
I hate stating the obvious but let me remind everyone that no other nation has offered to help, even the United States that the opposition loves to venerate. China’s COVID-19 situation is already improving while the US and the rest of the West still struggle with it.
If we get to a point where we’ll need to call on China for help, then so be it. We don’t have the money, infrastructure, and technology to deal with this mess completely, and the only country that’s willing and able to help is China. Are we just going to let sick Filipinos drop dead on the streets just because we hate China that much?
PRRD’s realpolitik, his pragmatic policy-making, resonates with the public because it translates to practical benefits that directly address visceral needs. The opposition, meanwhile, continually pretends that governance is about rainbows, unicorns, and butterflies, yet they still wonder why PRRD remains popular to this day.
What use would national pride be if Filipinos are too darn sick to feel it?'
For comments and reactions, please email [email protected] or visit Facebook.com/TheThinkingPinoy
RJ Nieto
President Rodrigo Duterte announced Thursday evening that the government would be instituting, among others, stricter quarantine policies to decelerate the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The announcement came only hours after the Philippines registered its 52nd confirmed case.
I was quite reluctant to talk about the right way to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, especially since I am neither a doctor nor a government executive. However, I cannot help but break my silence as I see with my own eyes the chaotic manner by which the government communicates with the general public.
No, this is not about PRRD’s accent or his choice of words. That’s a superficial issue. Instead, I’m talking about PCOO’s and DOH’s haphazard communications strategy that seemingly causes more confusion than enlightenment.
PUBLIC COMMUNICATION, OR THE LACK OF IT
The DOH said it should be the primary source of COVID-19 information, yet its website frequently crashes. And when it actually loads up, looking for relevant information is like finding Waldo.
Yes, I agree that the DOH consists mostly of doctors, so I expect PCOO to assist DOH in disseminating information because doctors typically aren’t trained in public communication.
But there’s another problem: How can PCOO help DOH if PCOO can’t even do its own job?
Just days ago, Senator Nancy Binay correctly pointed out PCOO’s inaction over COVID-19 when she said in Tagalog, “ should not waste their time in whatever Europe roadshow because we should focus on the Philippines to fight the spread of COVID-19.”
“If can create an hour-long documentary on the drug war, then maybe it can create 2-minute infomercials in different dialects,” she added.
And PCOO’s incompetence stole the limelight again, right after that PRRD presser. PCOO’s job is to advise the President on communications-related matters, and that includes what, when, and how to disclose information to the public, something that PCOO aparently didn’t do.
The public, especially those in Metro Manila where a lockdown will soon take place, was obviously confused and scared after watching PRRD’s press conference. Hence, I was expecting PCOO to publish more details about the supposed lockdown, but there were none.
Why didn’t PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar advise the president to hold off the announcement of a lockdown pending the creation of an executive order and its implementing rules? Why don’t we see more COVID-19 infographics on PCOO’s page? Why are there no text alerts from NDRRMC, when COVID-19 is clearly a disaster?
PCOO even has medical doctor Lorraine Badoy as an undersecretary, so why does PCOO continually fail to communicate COVID-19 information to the public? Or is she still too preoccupied with explaining NPA stuff (which is not her forte) to Europeans who couldn’t care less about it?
PRRD, CHINA, AND COVID-19
Italy now has over 10,000 confirmed cases with over 1,000 casualties, and its government has ordered a nationwide lockdown as its healthcare system is slowly getting overwhelmed. After seeing what’s happened to Italy and in light of the rising number of local cases, it’s clear that COVID-19 is a primordial national security concern for Filipinos. For one, Filipino health officials themselves admit that our inferior healthcare system may not be able to handle the same number of COVID-19 patients.
PRRD, in the same presser, thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping after the latter told him that China is “willing to help and all we have to do is ask.”
Anti-China racism popped up again as some well-known opposition figures decried Duterte’s supposed subservience to the Chinese, with some media men even joining the fray. These people do not deserve any sort of power as they put their personal politics above the nation’s very survival.
I hate stating the obvious but let me remind everyone that no other nation has offered to help, even the United States that the opposition loves to venerate. China’s COVID-19 situation is already improving while the US and the rest of the West still struggle with it.
If we get to a point where we’ll need to call on China for help, then so be it. We don’t have the money, infrastructure, and technology to deal with this mess completely, and the only country that’s willing and able to help is China. Are we just going to let sick Filipinos drop dead on the streets just because we hate China that much?
PRRD’s realpolitik, his pragmatic policy-making, resonates with the public because it translates to practical benefits that directly address visceral needs. The opposition, meanwhile, continually pretends that governance is about rainbows, unicorns, and butterflies, yet they still wonder why PRRD remains popular to this day.
What use would national pride be if Filipinos are too darn sick to feel it?'
For comments and reactions, please email [email protected] or visit Facebook.com/TheThinkingPinoy