ILOILO CITY—Mayor Jerry Treñas has joined the call of other government officials in calling for the resignation of Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III as cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continued to surge.
Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City. (Tara Yap/Manila Bulletin)
“I think it is really about time to accept responsibility and voluntarily resign for the sake of the country,” Treñas said Monday, June 29. “DOH has not correct decisions since the start of this pandemic. We are in a country with the longest lockdown, but cases continue to go up,” Treñas noted. As mayor of the city that serves as the regional capital of Western Visayas, Treñas was reacting to the decision of DOH to pull out 40 rural doctors from the region, and send them to Cebu City, which has been tagged by officials as the new epicenter of COVID-19 in the country. The statement also came as Treñas disclosed that Western Visayas has 45 new cases of COVID-19.
Treñas said that he considers Duque as a friend, and had known him since serving as health secretary of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.