"From gospel singing (mañanitas) to skipping health protocols - all while threatening to arrest the public for protocol violations. These have been 365 days of hypocrisy from some of our highest officials." Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros gave this overview of the 'sins' of ranking national government officials in flouting health protocols as the government enters its second year of lockdowns triggered by the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Hontiveros did not name any specific government official who had skipped health protocols but it was clear she was referring to one official, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Debold Sinas, because of his ‘’mañanita’’ issue last year.
Instead of rolling out aggressive health-based approaches, the government responded through undeserving promotions, pats-on-the-back and premature celebrations, Hontiveros said.
‘’The consequence of this is that we now face 5,000 cases daily, almost 13,000 deaths, an increasing debt of US$14 billion and only 0.1 percent of the whole population vaccinated," she noted.
Amid this surge, according to Hontiveros, the public has yet to receive an answer to the question "we have been asking since Bayanihan 1: - ‘’Where did the money go? Where did the US$14.24 billion or P690.5 billion that the Philippine government borrowed go to address the pandemic?" - Congress had passed Bayanihan 2 but why have health workers not received their allowances and health benefits, and the Special Amelioration Program (SAP) distribution is not enough.’’
‘’Sampal sa mukha ng taumbayan ang pagsirit muli ng mga kaso ng COVID-19 habang may P690 billion silang dapat bayaran na tatagal hanggang sa mga susunod na henerasyon. Nakapanlulumo lang na sa dami ng mga loans, hindi natin nagawang i-flatten ang curve (It is a slap on the face of Filipinos with the surge of COVID-19 as the next generation will pay for the P690 billion debt. Despite the large amounts of loans, government could not flatten the curve).’’ she said.
Hontiveros said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) continues to use silly and ineffective band-aid solutions as a smokescreen for the fact that the real systematic response has still not yet been made. ‘
’We are scrambling to control the pandemic again but ignore the fact that there are no real systems in place for free mass testing, no unified contact tracing system and therefore no chance to mass isolate,’’ she stressed.
‘’Again, we must go back to the basics of test, trace and isolate. We cannot let COVID-19 cases spread like wildfire while we put all our hopes on a vaccination program that is being carried out at snail's pace. We have only vaccinated around 5.9 percent of all healthcare workers since we started 2 weeks ago. Barely the tip of the iceberg,’’ she added.
Hontiveros said she would deliver a privilege speech at the Senate today on the ‘’heartbreaking situation we face on the COVID-19 lockdown anniversary.’’
‘’Instead of prematurely looking back at how far we’ve come, we should reflect hard on how far we still have to go,’’ she said.
‘’Hindi tayo handa para sa 8,000 to 12,000 daily cases na pino-project ng OCTA Research sa Abril (We are not prepared for 8,000 to 12,000 cases as projected by OCTA Research in April). Nakakatakot isipin kung gaano din tataas ang mga kaso ng namamatay (We fear about how high the casualty rate will be),’’ she explained.
`If we do not learn now, many more will die If we let this pandemic inflict more wounds, it might take more decades for the Filipino people to recover,’’ she said.
‘’Huwag nating sayangin ang pag-asang dinadala ng mga bakuna (let us not waste the hope given us by the vaccines),’’ she added.