Leni calls for transparency in COVID-19 outbreak
Published Mar 8, 2020 12:00 am
By Raymund Antonio
Amid the local transmission of the COVID-19, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday the lack of transparency and information about the deadly disease may cause public panic.
Vice President Leni Robredo
(Charlie Villegas, OVP / MANILA BULLETIN) Speaking on her weekly radio show, Robredo said the Philippine government should learn from the experiences of other countries in dealing with the local transmission of the virus. “Why were there many deaths for example in Iran and Italy? The factor is really speed, transparency. Why did the huge contamination in Taiwan prevented? The reason is the same. They have been effective in communication,” she said in Filipino. “So let us study what happened in other countries for us to prepare well,” Robredo stressed. The vice president, a leader of the opposition, called on the government to be transparent, citing the “underreporting” of COVID-19 cases in the country. “This morning I was reading the news article on the statement of Senator Ping Lacson about concerns of underreporting. We don’t know if there is underreporting, but it is important the people will be informed of the government's transparency,” she said. Robredo noted the source of public fear is the lack of information about the situation. President Duterte has already approved the recommendation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to declare a state of public health emergency following the confirmation of local transmission of COVID-19. The coronavirus alert level has been raised to Code Red-Sublevel 1 as a “preemptive call to ensure that national and local governments and public and private health care providers can prepare for possible increase in suspected and confirmed cases,” according to Duque. The declaration of a state of public health emergency will facilitate immediate mobilization of resources, particularly for the local government units, ease procurement processes, and intensify reporting and quarantine measures. Robredo said the administration should have acted sooner since the DOH made the recommendations last month. “For me, I hope when it was requested on Feb. 21, the document should have been prepared so the moment we have a local transmission, it would be immediately released,” she said.
Vice President Leni Robredo(Charlie Villegas, OVP / MANILA BULLETIN) Speaking on her weekly radio show, Robredo said the Philippine government should learn from the experiences of other countries in dealing with the local transmission of the virus. “Why were there many deaths for example in Iran and Italy? The factor is really speed, transparency. Why did the huge contamination in Taiwan prevented? The reason is the same. They have been effective in communication,” she said in Filipino. “So let us study what happened in other countries for us to prepare well,” Robredo stressed. The vice president, a leader of the opposition, called on the government to be transparent, citing the “underreporting” of COVID-19 cases in the country. “This morning I was reading the news article on the statement of Senator Ping Lacson about concerns of underreporting. We don’t know if there is underreporting, but it is important the people will be informed of the government's transparency,” she said. Robredo noted the source of public fear is the lack of information about the situation. President Duterte has already approved the recommendation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to declare a state of public health emergency following the confirmation of local transmission of COVID-19. The coronavirus alert level has been raised to Code Red-Sublevel 1 as a “preemptive call to ensure that national and local governments and public and private health care providers can prepare for possible increase in suspected and confirmed cases,” according to Duque. The declaration of a state of public health emergency will facilitate immediate mobilization of resources, particularly for the local government units, ease procurement processes, and intensify reporting and quarantine measures. Robredo said the administration should have acted sooner since the DOH made the recommendations last month. “For me, I hope when it was requested on Feb. 21, the document should have been prepared so the moment we have a local transmission, it would be immediately released,” she said.