Former Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay on Tuesday (August 3) called Health Secretary Francisco Duque a comedian for claiming that the Department of Health (DOH) has been proactive in dealing with the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.
“In a recent interview, the Health Secretary said that contrary to claims that the DOH has been “reactive” in dealing with the Delta variant, his department has been ‘pro-active,’” he said in a statement.
“Komedyante na pala si Health Secretary ( The Health Secretary has become a comedian).”
Binay said that if Duque was telling the truth, the DOH should have been able to secure the P100 million needed to expand the capabilities of the Genome Center.
The Philippine Genome Center is the only facility in the country that can conduct genome sequencing to determine the variant of coronavirus a person has contracted.
“It’s only now that ordinary citizens like us are made aware of its vital role in fighting COVID-19, but it remains terribly underfunded,” the former vice president said.
“Nasaan ang pagiging pro-active ng Health Secretary (Where is the proactiveness of the Health Secretary)? For now, the charitable thing to do is to consider this statement as comic relief.”
On July 29, Binay slammed the DOH for “contradicting” the proposal of an independent research group to impose circuit-breaker lockdown amid the threat of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
OCTA had earlier suggested the implementation of a ‘circuit-breaker” lockdown for two weeks to stem the transmission of the Delta variant.