Palace spokesman Harry Roque on Wednesday bucked Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo’s claim that the country’s Covid-19 testing remained insufficient at 30,000 tests administered daily.
In an interview over the “Quarantined with Howie Severino” program, Robredo said the country started to catch up with its months-old goals only recently as the government’s response had not been proactive at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Ang problema kasi natin hindi tayo naging maagap. Marami tayong kailangang ginawa February at saka March, parang ngayon pa lang tayo humahabol,” Robredo said.
“’Yung testing, as early as April and May, target natin was 30,000 tests a day. Parang na-reach lang natin ‘yun by July. So nakita natin na malaking bagay, malaking bagay noong na-reach natin kasi we found out na grabe na ‘yung community transmission,” she added.
Roque said Robredo’s comments were expected from someone from the opposition.
“Of course, nothing will ever be enough for someone na hindi nakakakita ng kahit anong mabuti sa pamahalaan,” he said in a Laging Handa briefing.
On Tuesday, Roque touted that the country’s testing policy was best in Asia.
More than three million Filipinos have been tested for Covid-19, with 272,934 testing positive as of Sept. 16. John Ezekiel J. Hirro