The spokesperson of Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday, May 2, the government should refrain from comparing its COVID-19 response to countries that are not doing well, stressing that it should look at the best practices of its Asian neighbors.

Lawyer Barry Gutierrez, who is also a legal adviser to Robredo, said the present administration should stop repeatedly comparing itself to India, which has more than a billion population.

“So, walang comparison na pwede ibigay doon. Pangalawa, kung gagawa ka ng ‘di ba, kung ihahambing mo yung sarili mo sa iba, ‘di ba gusto mo ihambing sarili mo dun sa pinakamagaling? (So, there’s no comparison there. Secondly, if you want to do good, if you are going to compare yourself to others, you want to compare yourself with the best, right?),” he asked over dzXL.

Gutierrez replaced Robredo in this week’s episode of her radio show because of the vice president’s intermittent internet signal.

“Sa dulo, ang gusto natin yun pinakamagandang serbisyo, ‘yung pinakamagandang programa ang mapatupad natin (In the end, what we want is the best service, the best program that we can implement),” he said, adding that the country does not need to look too far for the best COVID-19 response.

Countries like Vietnam and Taiwan have been doing good in handling the pandemic.

Gutierrez was reacting to a leaked Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCCO) memo that directed government news agencies to emphasize that the Philippines was “faring better than other countries” in handling the COVID-19 crisis.

This message was prepared despite an overwhelmed health care system, hundreds of billions in debt, mass unemployment, rising poverty levels, lack of targeted mass testing, and limited vaccine supply.

“Huwag muna nating tingnan yung comparison sa ibang bansa. Ang i-focus natin, ano ba target natin, ano iyong gusto natin maabot. Sa kasalukuyan, mataas pa rin ang ating positivity rate (Let’s stop comparing with other countries. Our focus should be what’s our target, what we want to reach. At present, our positivity rate is still high),” Gutierrez noted.

The country’s positivity rate on May 1, Saturday, was at 16.8 percent, a far cry from the less than 5 percent recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

When the positivity rate is too high, this means that the country isn’t doing enough tests.

Gutierrez said the government needs to look for ways to lower the transmission and positivity rates, as well as efficiently roll out the COVID-19 vaccines instead of insisting that India has it far worse.

“Ano tulong sa atin nun? (How will that help us?),” the spokesman asked.