Senatorial aspirant Sorsogon Gov. Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Sunday, Jan. 16, appealed to the national government to provide one RT-PCR machine per province as this will only cost around P10 million per unit.
Escudero, who was a guest during Vice President Leni Robredo’s weekly radio show, noted that providing 10 machines per province will cost less than P10 billion, a far cry from the estimated P6 trillion that the national government took out as loans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Ang halaga ng isang RT-PCR machine ay higit kumulang P10 million. Bigyan mo ang kada probinsiya ng isa wala pang isang bilyon iyon. Bigyan mo ng sampu ang kada probinsya, wala pang sampung bilyon iyon (The cost of one RT-PCR machine is around P10 million. Give per province one, that will not cost a billion. Give each province 10, that’s less than P10 billion),” he said.
“Ano ba naman iyong sampung bilyon para magkaroon tayo ng (What is P10 billion if we can have) mass testing capability na libre sa bawat lalawigan ng ating bansa (that’s free for every province in the country)?,” the governor asked.
Escudero is a guest candidate in Robredo’s senatorial slate. He is also a guest candidate of presidential aspirants Senators Emmanuel 'Manny' Pacquiao and Panfilo 'Ping' Lacson.
The senator, who hails from Bicol like Robredo, stated that his home region has only one RT-PCR machine.
That machine is located in Albay province, so all tests coming from the region have to be lined up in Albay.
Escudero explained this is the reason why it takes two to three days for the release of the RT-PCR tests in his province.
“Ano ba naman po ang sampung milyon? Kayang-kaya naman po ng pamahalaan iyon kung gugustuhin lamang (What is P10 million? The government can afford it if they want),” he stressed.
This is a worthy investment for the government, the former senator stressed, because RT-PCR machines do not only detect the presence of coronavirus.
According to experts, the machine is also used for the detection, quantification, and typing of different microbial agents.
Escudero lamented that even after two years, the country has not reached the right testing capacity.
“At imbes na gawaan ng paraan ng DOH at ni Secretary Duque ay tila kabaliktaran pa ang ginawa. Binawasan pa iyong testing. Nilimitahan pa ang testing at hindi na po hinire uli iyong mga contact tracers na palagay ko ay maling direksyon (Instead of the DOH and Secretary Duque finding a way, they did the opposite. They reduced the testing. They limited the testing and they did not rehire the contract tracers which I think is the wrong direction),” he said.
The governor also asked the government to approve “accurate” COVID-19 antigen home kits to capacitate both the public and private sectors in doing their own tests.
The country is currently in the midst of an outbreak due to the Omicron variant. On Saturday, Jan. 15, the Philippines logged 39,004 new cases with a positivity rate of 47.1 percent.