Anakalusugan partylist Representative Mike Defensor and three other members of the House of Representatives urged the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday to take over the Quezon City (QC) local government's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Defensor and Team Malayang Quezon City members -- Rep. Anthony Peter Crisologo, Rep. Allan Reyes, and Rep. Precious Hipolito. Castelo --filed a complaint on the alleged "poor crisis leadership" and management by the QC local government of the pandemic response.
“On account of the local government’s poor crisis leadership, Quezon City continues to log on a daily basis the highest number of new COVID-19 infections nationwide,” they said.
“If we break the figures down to cases per 100,000 population, Quezon City would still emerge with the highest number at 5,878 cases per 100,000 population, compared to Cavite’s 3,701 cases, Laguna’s 3,652 cases, Bulacan’s 2,788 cases, and Rizal’s 3,083 cases,” they added.
“In fact, Quezon City’s cumulative COVID-19 caseload is now considerably higher than those of entire and more heavily populated provinces such as Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal,” the group said.
They added that residents of QC continue to be restricted, which make it difficult for them to earn a living.
“What is happening in Quezon City now is clearly a case of inadequate governance that can only be rectified by a DILG takeover of the efforts to contain COVID-19,” Defensor said.
“We would urge Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to immediately designate a senior executive to take charge of the city’s fight against COVID-19," he added.
According to a report from the Department of Health released on Oct. 30, a total of 173,977 COVID-19 cases were recorded in Quezon City.