The national government should start investing in the country’s scientists and doctors to develop a cure for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), presidential aspirant and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said.
“I think it’s high time for the state or the Philippine government to invest on our human resources — scientists, doctors— to create our own agency to find cure and medicine of our own,” Domagoso said during the 2022 Presidential One-On-One Interviews with Boy Abunda aired on Thursday, Jan. 27.
“I think it is high time for us to discover our own vaccine, discover our own medicine... We must have that kind of access,” he added.
Domagoso also noted Filipinos are brilliant, hence many are getting hired in other countries.
“Magaling tayong mga Pilipino... (We, Filipinos are bright) Let's pull them back to the country and invest in them)," the Manila mayor said.
Should he win in the upcoming elections, Domagoso also said he would treat the battle against the COVID-19 as endemic.
The country must be prepared for the worst-case scenarios and start building more hospitals as well as procuring COVID-19 medicines.
“Given a chance, I’ll treat it as an endemic... Live with it. As long as we build more hospitals, para ‘yung may mga sakit meron silang paglalagakan (so that those who are sick has somewhere to go to).”
"Because mas maraming namamatay sa ibang sakit sa ating mga hospital dala nang hindi na nakakapunta dahil napupuno nang napupuno ‘yung ating mga hospital (Because more people are dying of other diseases in our hospitals for not being able to go since our hospitals are getting full).”
Domagoso reiterated that he joined the presidential race to offer what they have done in Manila that are duplicable and scalable, including their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.