The officials of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) came to the defense of Senator Richard Gordon following President Duterte’s accusations against the lawmaker.
Gordon stands as the chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the humanitarian organization which has been one of the leading private entities taking part in the country’s pandemic response.
“We stand solidly behind Chairman Gordon as he leads the valiant efforts of the PRC to serve millions of suffering Filipino people, especially during this protracted pandemic,” the PRC’s board of governors said in a signed statement on Friday, Sept. 3.
“Our mission to aid and comfort the afflicted and to save lives beckons every day, and amidst the suffering of our people, we will continue to fulfill our mandate and find ways to uplift the life of every Filipino,” they added.
The President used a portion of his weekly public address to accuse PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon of utilizing the organization as his “milking cow” when it comes to his election funds.
Following the President’s tirades, the PRC officials said: “We express our staunch and unequivocal support for Chairman Dick Gordon, himself an unsalaried volunteer like the rest of the Board, who has transformed the PRC into the responsive and modernized institution that it is today.”
PRC’s pandemic response
In the statement, the PRC officials highlighted the organizations contribution to the country’s response against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
They noted that the PRC is the largest testing provider in the country, and have conducted over 4 million tests for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) so far.
Before the pandemic unleashed havoc in the country, the board said the PRC took measures to ensure that they are prepared to respond to the devastation that the virus would cause to people.
“This foresight allowed us to quickly establish molecular laboratories for RT-PCR testing, a service that the PRC had never offered before,” they said.
“It was not long before the PRC was doing the bulk of the country’s testing, at its height covering 45 percent of the requirement, picking up the slack for the government,” they added.
The PRC board likewise explained that their decision to temporarily suspend COVID-19 testing was only an exercise of “fiscal responsibility.”
This was after the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) had an outstanding balance of almost P800 million to the PRC for the testing.
“To begin with, the COVID-19 testing should be the job of the government. We merely stepped up when there was a need that the government could not address,” the board said.
“To allow our finances to bleed from operational expenses and supplies related to testing because the government does not pay its obligations would severely compromise our much-needed services to the suffering and marginalized,” they added.