In a virtual news conference with members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) on Saturday, Sen. Richard Gordon broke down as he faced the full weight of the country’s public health crisis.
“This is a monumental, world-class disaster,” an emotional Gordon, who is also the head of the Philippine Red Cross, said. “Fix our problem, stop fixing the blame.”
Gordon called on all Filipinos to share and carry the burden as the Philippines does not have any idea of the extent of the coronavirus infection. The country’s health infrastructure is seriously challenged by the lack of medical personnel, equipment, and supplies like testing kits and personal protection equipment (PPEs).
The media has a very important role in the fight against an unseen enemy. “Criticize if we must but make sure we get the solutions as well,” he added.
Journalists have voiced concerns from the public when the government appeared slow to respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) when it appeared in late January. It was first detected on two Chinese tourists from Wuhan in central China, where the outbreak began in December 2019.
While other governments had taken action weeks after the outbreak in China, like stockpiling face masks and PPEs, developing test kits and closing their borders from millions of Chinese tourists eager to travel before the lunar celebrations, many countries remained complacent.
The Philippines was more concerned with its bilateral relations with China that even the health secretary, who should not be talking about diplomacy, was defending Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to allow hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists and gaming workers to enter the country.
Travel restrictions to and from China, Hong Kong and Macau were only imposed after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus outbreak as an international public health emergency.
By that time, the disease had been silently infecting Filipinos. For almost a month, there were no reports of coronavirus infections reported in the country as tourists from China were barred from entering the Philippines.
During that period, Francisco Duque III boasted that the country was a model for containing the virus as it began to spread in other parts of Asia, Middle East and western Europe.
The health department could have focused its attention on preparing for the outbreak, acquiring medical equipment, like ventilators, testing kits, face masks, PPEs and identifying and building quarantine areas and hospital capacities.
In fact, Duque and other health department officials were discouraging the public from wearing masks as well as rejecting calls for mass testing of people at high risk of contracting the highly contagious respiratory disease.
The only reason for the health department’s advice was there was inadequate supply of surgical face masks and testing kits. In fact, the health department was sending swab samples from suspected infected persons to a laboratory in Melbourne, Australia to determine coronavirus results.
When the outbreak started in early March, the Philippines was not prepared at all, with only one molecular laboratory capable of testing swab samples and less than 3,000 testing kits available. Public and private medical facilities lacked capacity as cases of local transmission increased, prompting many people to get tested even if they did not show symptoms of flu-like disease like dry cough, fever and difficulty in breathing,
Politicians, high-ranking government officials and other VIPs competed with persons under investigation (PUIs) for the limited number of testing kits, which resulted in a huge backlog as test results took more than a week to get confirmation,.
By the middle of March, Duterte was forced to place the capital region under a community quarantine, declaring a state of public emergency as the health department struggled and scrambled to respond to a rapid escalation of coronavirus disease.
Two days later, the lockdown was expanded to the entire main island of Luzon as people from Metro Manila started an exodus to the provinces to escape from restrictions, which closed schools, shops, public offices and travel.
Testing kits donated by China and Singapore and acquired from South Korea and Japan began arriving only after the enhanced community quarantine was in place. By the third week, an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 testing kits were available and a homegrown testing kit was also approved for commercial use.
Less than 20,000 people have been screened so far, with nearly 3,100 people found to be positive for the virus. One hundred forty-four people have died and less than 50 people have recovered from the disease as of Saturday.
Retired general Carlito Galvez has announced plans to conduct mass testing in two weeks, or by Easter, hoping to screen 10,000 high-risks persons a day by the end of the month.
People at high risk are those who are suspected to have contracted the disease because they show symptoms or have been exposed to infected people. Also, highly vulnerable people with low immunity and those who have cancer, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular and renal diseases, and stroke victims, and healthcare workers and other front-line personnel like soldiers and police officers.
Gordon could not determine how many people should be screened for the virus and the number of kits needed to test them, as one person would need at least three tests before he could be declared free from the virus.
As the country entered the third week of enhanced community quarantine, and as testing capacity increased, the government has only started to construct large facilities for isolation and treatment of infected people.
Like many countries in western Europe, Asia and the United States, the government should have done all these preparations months ago when the first case of the disease appeared. This is the price government has to pay for complacency.
As government was slow to act and was behind for a month to prepare for the outbreak, the public might be looking for a longer “stay-at-home” order as the lock down could be extended for another 15 to 20 days and might be expanded to the Visayas and Mindanao.
Gordon was right. This is not the time for finger-pointing. This is not the time for a blame game. This is not the time for politics, for propaganda, for self-promotion, for spreading hate messages and disinformation.
Further polarizing the already deeply divided community is dangerous. It could explode any minute as people get hungry and desperate due to the restrictions that has disrupted business, leading to hundreds of thousands of job cuts and livelihood loses.
Threats to meet violence with force and jail troublemakers will not work, and compassion is much needed during these desperate and trying times. Spend the 200-billion-peso social amelioration program wisely and distribute the fund evenly, without discrimination.
What the country needs at this time is unity, solidarity and teamwork, borrowing from the favorite slogan of former president Fidel Ramos.
Every Filipino must share and carry the load, but first, government must not be ashamed to admit its shortcomings. Stop giving bad excuses and reasons for delaying or not taking any action at all.
We are all in the same boat, we can overcome the crisis as one people but we must be honest with everyone.