President Duterte has refused to fire Health Secretary Francisco Duque III over the alleged mishandling of the pandemic response, insisting that he did not "import" the new coronavirus into the country.
(KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
In his televised address Sunday, the President expressed support anew for Duque and even forgave him for any inaccurate pronouncement about the coronavirus situation that he made in the past.
According to the President, no country ever anticipated the coronavirus pandemic that infected many people and put a strain on healthcare facilities.
"For example, Secretary Duque, they want your neck. Then I asked you, 'Okay, you want me to fire Duque?' Let me be satisfied. Anong kasalanan ng tao? He did not import COVID," he said during his televised address Sunday.
"He was there all the time and ang infection was overwhelming not only for the Philippines. I do not want to compare it with any country but it was a global thing. The scientists say that it will be, this COVID will be forever, for decades," he said.
Duterte also tried to be more understanding when it came to Duque's controversial comments about the country’s coronavirus data.
"Now, if Secretary Duque misquoted or was not accurate sa kanyang figures, para sa akin, matulala ka sa figures because they come in incomplete and sometimes wrong, sometimes asymptomatic, sometimes naka-uwi na (sometimes they already went home)," he said.
He also lashed out at critics who “keep on harping on Secretary Duque.” "What will I do with him? There’s a lack of hospital beds? Talagang nagkulang. Nobody anticipated this. This is a pandemic,” he said.
Several senators had earlier called for the resignation of Duque for his alleged failure of leadership in the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a resolution, the senators claimed that Duque's negligence and inefficiency have led to "poor planning, delayed response, lack of transparency, and misguided and flip-flopping policies and measures" in dealing with the health emergency.
Duque also triggered a sharp rebuke from some groups over his erroneous remarks about the country's supposed shift to the second wave of infections as well as the alleged flattening of the curve.
Recently, the health department is under fire for adjusting how it classifies a person who has recovered from the illness. As a result of the new reporting policy, the country's recovered cases jumped to 65,064 on Thursday after authorities reported 38,075 new recoveries.
In the meeting with some Cabinet members, the President asked Duque if the country's recoveries were "original number or a changing number." Duterte was also interested to find out if the recovery number included people who are already cured.
Duque informed the President that the recovery was indeed a "changing number." He mentioned that the Inter Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF) recently approved a resolution on the time-based reckoning of COVID-19 recoveries.
Under the resolution, he said, patients with mild or no symptoms are considered recovered after completing 14 days of isolation from the date of onset of illness.
"Kasi iyan po, usually 10 days nga lang po sabi ng WHO (World Health Organization) gagaling ka na po basta mild po and asymptomatic (Because usually, the WHO said you will get better after 10 days if you're mild and asymptomatic)," he said.
When Duterte asked him if the recoveries were a constant number, Duque replied: "Yes, sir. This number will continue to increase as more and more people recover."
As of August 2, the country has recorded 103,185 cases of coronavirus with 2,059 deaths and 65,557 recoveries.