The government should be more open to criticisms and efforts from the private sector as they continue to address the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Saturday, March 13.
In an interview over DWIZ radio, Lacson said the government should assess its actions so it would know the weaknesses of its response to the pandemic, a year since it started.
"Now is the time for an evaluation, what the government did right and what it did wrong," he said.
"Instead of rejecting constructive criticism, it should accept it as part of their planning and continuing assessment. Our aim is to call their attention to things they may not realize. No one has a monopoly of wisdom and knowledge," he added.
The evaluation, he said, would be critical in the wake of "extremely alarming" spike in the number of new coronavirus cases daily. From the 4,578 listed yesterday, he Philippines recorded 5,000 new cases on March 13, pushing up the total cases to 616,611.
Lacson underscored the need for contingency plans to bring the newly-delivered coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to remote areas and inoculate the people there.
"The plans should not be limited to slideshow presentations. Pagdating sa demo, perfect, pero baka hindi napag-aralan ang ibang challenges na practical ang application, hindi na-anticipate. Kaya dapat tuloy-tuloy ang pag-aaral (Their demonstration came out perfect, but maybe they failed to look into the other challenges that they did not anticipate it during the actual application)," he said.
He added that the government should use its resources efficiently for procuring and rolling out vaccines. He noted that the national debt has reached P10.33 trillion while an additional $900 million in loans has been secured for its COVID-19 response.
"If we allow years for the pandemic to pass because we failed to implement our plans, we might end up being a pariah. No one will come here and no one will receive our Filipinos abroad. That is something to consider," he warrned.
Meanwhile, Lacson reiterated his call for greater participation by the private sector and local government units in vaccination efforts.
"The private, especially the business sector, is the national government's natural ally. Aside from their patriotism and corporate social responsibility, they cannot afford to have their employees get hit by COVID because their business will suffer, thus their willingness to help. Should we not grab such an opportunity?" he said.
"Dapat talaga lahat magkatulong-tulong. Huwag naman sanang masamain...kailangan natin ng conribution ng lahat ng tao (We really need to unite. And the government should not take it negatively, we need the contribution of all people)," he reiterated.