Vice President Leni Robredo thinks all leaders should be honest with the problems being faced in the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) so that these can be sorted out.
Robredo made the remark during her weekly radio program on Sunday, when she lauded the openness of Contact Tracing Czar and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong regarding Metro Manila's contact tracing situation.
"Ang kagustuhan ko lang dito kay Mayor Magalong napaka-honest. Assignment niya 'to, sinabi niya na di natin naachieve, heto yung problema. (What I like about Mayor Magaling is he's very honest. This is his assignment, he said that this was not achieved, and this was the problem)," Robredo said.
"Sana ganyan lahat para alam natin yung tunay na kalagayan. Para alam natin yung problema, para nahaharap. (I hope everyone is like that. So we know the problem, and we can find a way to solve it)," she added.
Robredo said that sometimes it can be frustrating when other leaders do not accept that there have been flaws. There cannot be any improvement without the acceptance, according to her.
"Kapag ganito kahit may pagkukulang, parang kampante ako na yung naglelead alam niya yung sinasabi niya kasi honest enough siya para sabihin na heto yung nangyari, heto yung problema para nahahanapan ng paraan. (Even if it's like this that there are shortcomings, I'm still confident that who is leading knows what he is doing because he is honest enough to say that this is what happened, this was the problem, so a solution can be found)," Robredo said.
With regards to this, the Department of Health (DOH) said that only 10 to 20 close contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 patient can be identified in the meantime since there are constraints in resources. Mayor Magalong said that the ideal contact tracing ratio is around 1:37.
Contact tracing was one of the topics focused on by Robredo during the radio program, as part of the DOH's targets that should be reached after the 14-day quarantine period. The Vice President said that she is expecting a report from the DOH regarding this.
This includes high awareness and compliance to minimum health standards; a hundred percent households undergone symptom check; a hundred percent with symptoms, relevant history, contacts swabbed; no suspect, probable, and confirmed cases nor their contacts are on home quarantine; at least 37 contacts identified per confirmed case (1:37); a hundred percent requiring admission/isolation successfully referred; a hundred percent of admitted patients have zero-out-of-pocket; a hundred percent of clusters identified, contained, and isolated; rapid antibody test kit not used; and no stigmatization in the community.
"Ngayong araw kasi naglabas ng statement yung DOH na namaximize nila yung period pero wala masyadong detalye. Ang gusto sana natin malaman na-hit ba natin itong 9 targets (The DOH released a statement saying that they maximized the quarantine period but there was not much detail. We just want to know if these 9 targets were reached)," she said.