Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday, March 24,  echoed repeated calls for the resignation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as COVID-19 infections continue to rise in the Philippines.

Like her colleagues, Binay said she still believes that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who leads the IATF, "is not the best person to handle our COVID-19 problem."

"Nakakalungkot at nakakabother na 'yong Secretary of Health natin ang ginagawa, namimigay ng face shield (It sad and bothersome that our Secretary of Health is only distributing face shields)," she said in an interview with CNN Philippines, March 24.

"The solution is a lot bigger than distributing face shields, or going out in public reminding them to wear their face masks," she stressed.

The lawmaker was alluding to when Duque went to Parañaque last Friday to distribute and remind residents on the use of face mask and face shields. The Department of Health (DOH) chief also brought a meter stick as part of the agency's "Bida Bastonero" campaign to tell people to observe physical distancing.

Duque was heavily-criticized on social media, with netizens pointing out that such activities will not solve the country's worsening COVID-19 situation.

Still, the DOH secretary maintained that the non-compliance to minimum health protocols is one reason for the surge in coronavirus cases, besides the emergence of new variants and the easing of quarantine protocols to reopen the economy.

"Umiikot po ako halos araw-araw sa mga palengke, doon ko po nakikita na hindi na nasunod...parang token na lang ang compliance (I have been going around in markets almost everyday and I observed that people are no longer complying...That compliance only appears to be a token)," Duque told President Duterte in their televised meeting Monday, March 22.

Duque also chairs the Interagency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, which comes up with and recommends to the President the policies for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several senators have long been calling on Duque to step down from his post. In April last year, 16 senators from the Senate majority bloc signed a resolution calling for Duque's immediate resignation for his "failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight and inefficiency."

They said Duque's performance resulted in the "poor planning, delayed response, lack of transparency, misguided,and flip-flopping policies and measures" against the pandemic.