Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers doesn't buy the Department of Health's (DOH) declaration of "mass recovery" among Filipinos afflicted with COVID-19 that reached over 38,000.
"This is the most incredible and irresponsible public health announcement I have ever heard," Barbers said in a statement Friday.
"I really could not fathom the objective that the DoH is trying so hard to achieve by these pronouncements," said the solon, who, in recent weeks, have been criticizing DoH Secretary Franciso Duque III for supposed failure of leadership and incredulous statements pertaining to the agency's handling of the pandemic.
According to Barbers, the declaration of recovered COVID-19 cases which include asymptomatics and mild cases was done "by mere assumption and without concrete proof."
"Certainly we are in a totally miserable situation with this kind of mentality and gross incompetence. From day one, it was blunder after blunder," he said.
"At first, Secretary Duque said that we need not ban flights from China because they are our friends and that we are 'prepared' for the virus and 'we can handle the situation' if it comes to us. Then when the virus arrived, 'it is under control,'" he recalled.
"In May (Duque) said 'we are already in the second wave,' only to be rebuffed by the Cabinet. Then just a few weeks ago, when he viewed the graph maybe from the back, he said that 'we have flattened the curve since April," added the pro-administration congressman.
While Barbers has yet to directly call for Duque's resignation, he once again wished that the DoH didn't have him on board.
"The complete overhaul of DoH is long overdue. Why are they downplaying the real situation? If they are saying this to satisfy and please the ears of the business sector and to justify the further easing of quarantine restrictions, then they are using the wrong assumptions and putting people in greater peril,” Barbers said.