Fifteen senators passed Senate Resolution 362 on April 16, asking for the resignation of Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III for his “failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight, and inefficiency” in the performance of his mandate in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

Senators said this resulted to “poor planning, delayed response, lack of transparency, and misguided and flip-flopping policies and measures that endangered and continue to endanger the lives of our health care professionals, other frontliners and the Filipino people.

To many netizens, the senators criticism on Duque reflected also on President Rodrigo Duterte who was given additional powers through the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act or RA 11469 signed on March 24. This accountability was said to also fall on the National Task Force COVID-19 (NTF), once criticized for being all led by former Armed Forces of the Philippines top generals.

Duque became a trending topic on Twitter, with tweets asking for Duterte’s accountability as well or having more accountability in the situation as president and head of the executive department Duque is only a member.

 

Duque heads the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) that once led the government’s response to the pandemic. The IATF was subsumed as the NTF’s policy-making body when RA 11469 was passed and the National Action Plan was formulated.

The NTF is composed of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as overall head, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año as vice chair and Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. as chief implementer.

 

To some, Duque is being made a scapegoat if he is the only one to be asked to resign and more should be held accountable.

 

Others took aim at the “reemergence” of some senators who the public has not heard from for a while.

Some also mentioned how senators asking for Duque to resign “benefitted” from the VIP testing.

 

To many, the reasons cited by the senators as basis for asking Duque’s resignation is in fact a recounting of Duterte and the government’s accountability and negligence in the face of the pandemic.

The reasons the senators cited included:

  • warning or speaking against the travel ban to China
  • passing blame to airlines for the slow tracking of individuals who were in the same flight as the first positive cases who came to the Philippines from Wuhan
  • lack of coordination with civil aviation authorities that possibly delayed contract tracing
  • failing to alert the medical community and the public
  • delay in releasing information about the spike of cases in March when community transmission was determined
  • DOH’s failure to provide adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to health workers,
  • lacking foresight in stockpiling PCR test kits,
  • issuing guidelines against rapid test kits that was “fortunately” countermanded by Duterte,
  • DOH response to the situation at the National Center for Mental Health,
  • the “insulting” P500 allowance for health worker volunteers,
  • the recent IATF order for all to wear face masks when Duque said before only sick people need to wear them,
  • Duque’s declaration of “low” infection rate in the country when the Philippines how has the most cases in South East Asia while mass testing is yet to be rolled out
  • improper advice and handling that will put the country in “quite negative dynamics” due to “inefficiency in government management” in a recently published pandemic safety ranking
  • failure to expeditiously act in facilitating the accreditation of testing centers such as the one that the Marikina local government set up
  • refusal and failure to invoke Section 12 of the Medical Act that would allow graduates of medical schools to render medical services that was “fortunately” resolved by the IATF

The senators who introduced the resolution included Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senators Ralph Recto, Miguel Zubiri, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Manny Pacquiao, Sherwin Gatchalian, Francis Tolentino, Joel Villanueva, Imee Marcos, Ronald Dela Rosa, Lito Lapid, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. and Panfilo Lacson.

“Whether he is removed or not, status quo cannot continue if we want to defeat the virus. Kelangan mas bibo ang liderato dito laban sa virus…We were late for testing, contact tracing is almost non existent, hospitals short of protective gear– we need to be better. Buhay ng mga Pilipino ang nakasalalay dito,” said Angara.

“We cannot allow our response to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue like this. Our efforts on contact tracing and mass testing came in late, while we called our health workers to arms without the proper equipment to protect themselves. Our public health leader should empower local governments, and take strategic actions that would make our response more efficient. We expect our public health leader to show everyone he has the necessary qualities to lead the response effectively because our own people’s lives are at stake here. Every decision matters. We cannot afford to be indecisive at this point,” said Villanueva in his statement on the resolution.

“The issues raised by the senators against Secretary Duque as stated in Senate Resolution 362 have commonalities as they are glaring and have bearing on the country surviving COVID-19…We are simply for a competent Secretary of Health. Take note: not more competent, but simply a competent one at the helm,” said Lacson in his statement on the resolution.

Lacson said the resolution is not addressed to Duterte, but to Duque as it is the secretary’s call.

In a matter of hours after the Senate Resolution came out, Duque responded that he was “hurt” by the call for his resignation but that he serves at the pleasure of the president. Duterte, through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, said he is keeping Duque.

Duque was appointed by Duterte in October 2017 and was confirmed by the Commission on Appointment on February 2018.

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