Is the Philippines ready for another surge of COVID-19? Nine presidential bets give their take

Nine presidential candidates on Saturday weighed in on whether the Philippines is ready for another surge of COVID-19, the disease which have killed thousands in the country since 2020. 

Those who appeared before the Comelec Pilipinas Presidential Debates: The Turning Point were Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Panfilo Lacson and  Manny Pacquiao, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, former presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella, former Defense chief Norberto Gonzales, labor leader Leody de Guzman, businessman Faisal Mangondato and laywer-physician Jose  Montemayor.

"We should have learned our lesson in the last two years and even from the experience of other countries," Robredo said, even citing that Hong Kong is having an increase in COVID-19 cases of late because "they have low vaccination rate, especially among seniors."

"Ang unang tututukan ko, kailangan mapaigitng iyong vaccination rito sa atin [I will focus on intensifying the vaccination], only 58% finished first and second dose, 16% finished booster shots, our initial target is 77 million fully vaccinated, we are still short by 13 million," she said.

"We should not wait for another surge to improve testing, tracing, treatment
What happened to testing? The problem was inaccessibility and it was too expensive On tracing, those many apps should be consolidated under a centralized app so we will have a uniform database for treatment, we should focus on rolling out Universal Health Care program," she added.

For his part, Gonzales agreed with Robredo on the need to intensify the vacciation campaign.

"Tama po yung sinabi ni Vice President Robredo. Yun pong ating vaccination kailangan, i-review natin ang proseso…Importante po ang vaccination ay iayos po natin  yung coverage as much as possible," he said.

[What Vice President Robredo said is right. We should review the vaccination process. It is important that the vaccination coverage be fixed.]

"Siguro dapat pumunta na tayo sa United Nations . Sabihin natin bakit ba ang gamot sa pandemya ay ginagawa pa nating negosyo. Dapat sana ay i-aapeal na po natin," he said.

[Maybe we should go to the United Nations and tell them that medicines in this pandemic should not be made a business matter.]

'Institutionalized'

Lacson said the Philippine pandemic response should be institutionalized so that the government will be proactive and not reactive to future health crises.

"It is not a question kung handa o hindi handa ang Pilipinas. Dapat lagi tayong handa for the next pandemic, Deltacron man  maski anong variant, o bagong pandemic," he said.

[It is not a question whether the Philippines is ready or not. We should always be ready for the next pandemic, whether there is Deltacron or whatever variant or new pandemic.] 

He recalled filing a bill establishing the Virology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) in the Senate as early as May 2020. However, Lacson said the measure has yet to be passed.

Under the 2022 national budget, he said there is P982 million for the start-up of the VIP.

"So ipu-pursue ko ito dahil ito ang magliligtas sa atin. Di na tayo mag-i-import. Lalakasan natin ang research and development sa pamamagitan ng Virology Institute," he said, lamenting that only 0.4% in the national budget was allocated for the country's research projects.

[So I will pursue this because this will save us. We will not import. We will strengthen research and development through the Virology Institute.]

"Now while we transition from a state of pandemic to endemic state...Digitalize natin, institutionalize and ating pandemic response. Dapat mayroon na tayong pandemic playbook na nakahanda. 'Yan and kulang natin. Lagi tayong nabubulaga," he said.

"Dapat proactive tayo mag-isip at di nagre-react," he emphasized, reiterating the need for stricter border control and the full funding of the Universal Health Care Act so the Philippines will be prepared for future health crises.

Isko fact checks Montemayor

Meanwhile, Moreno said he will use the remaining budget from Bayanihan 1 and 2 to buy equipment, establish COVID-19 field hospitals, and procure COVID-19 drugs.

“Ibig po sabihin, we can learn how to live with COVID-19 and go back to work  easily. ‘Yun pong magiging direksyon natin,” he said.

Further, he said he will fix the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.

At one point during the segment, Moreno also corrected Montemayor when the latter falsely claimed that the Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 was made up solely of lawyers.

"Tandaan ninyo ha, ang IATF ang nangunguna diyan mga abogado. And the issue is health [Remember, the IATF is spearheaded by lawyers]," Montemayor earlier said.

Moreno rebutted this.

"I have to correct. With all due respect to Mr. Montemayor, I think he's not aware. IATF is also supported and composed of medical frontliners and specialists in healthcare," he said.

"Para lang alam niya kasi baka maligaw ang ating mga kababayan [So that he would know because our countrymen might be mislead]," he added.

Abolish IATF

Montemayor said the IATF should be abolished.

"IATF dapat i-abolish yan. Walang ni minsan ... from the very start of Resolution No. 1 nila  banning all nurses yung mga may live contracts, maling-mali na," he said.

"Ang vaccination okay naman pero huwag gawing mandatory. Do not force it to the people. That is a violation of their constitutional rights," he added.

"Makakayanan ng Pilipinas yan if we will be aggressive in test, trace, and treat. Napaka-importante na we have to prevent this. Prevention is the best part of managing the whole thing. Ang also eventually, mitigation," Montemayor said.

Labor leader Leody De Guzman said Saturday that the national government should not depend on the private sector in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

De Guzman stressed that the health crisis should not be treated as a "business."

"Una, akuin ng gobyerno 'yung responsibilidad sa kalusugan ng ating mamamayan. Huwag iasa sa pribado, huwag nating gawing negosyo 'yung usaping kalusugan ng ating kababayan," De Guzman said.

[The government should own responsibility for the public's health. It should not be too dependent on the private sector, let's not make public health a business matter.] 

He also reiterated the need to ensure food security so that citizens will not be infected with any virus.

"Ang unang hakbang dapat ma-resolve natin 'yung kakapusan sa pagkain ng mamamayan, gawin nating malusog ang ating mga kababayan nang sa gayon ay magkaroon sila ng lakas ng katawan na labanan ang anumang virus na dumarating," De Guzman said.

[The first step is to resolve food scarcity, make our countrymen healthy to enable them to fight off whatever virus.]

De Guzman also said the health sector should be given a sufficient budget to provide the needs of healthcare workers, adding that research and development should also be prioritized to come up with medicines and even new vaccines for COVID-19.

Competitive individuals should also lead the Department of Health, he said.

Health standards

For his part, Pacquiao said the government should enforce the implementation of the minimum public health standards should there be another COVID-19 surge in the country.

"Hindi naman masabi na ready tayo. Ang kailangan lang nating ipatupad ‘yung strikto nating pagsusuot ng mask at matuto tayong mamuhay na kasama ang COVID. Higit sa lahat, ‘yung contact tracing paigtingin pa. For the meantime, siguro isarado natin ‘yung mga borders natin para hindi po muna mas lalong laganap pa at pumasok ‘yung mga virus dito sa ating bansa," he said.

[We cannot say that we are ready. All we need to do is strictly wear face masks and learn to live with COVID. Above all, the contract tracing should be intensified. For the meantime, maybe we have to close our borders so that the virus does not become more widespread and enter our country.]

He, however, stressed that should another surge happen in the country, the public will not be forced to halt their jobs as they only need to follow the health protocols set by the IATF.

'Tuloy po ang hanapbuhay ng mga tao. Hindi po natin sila pipigilan. Kailangan lang talaga sumunod sila sa mga protocol ng IATF para hindi po tayo maging dahilan sa pagdami ng virus sa ating bansa," he added.

(The public livelihood will continue. We will not stop them. They just need to follow the IATF protocols so that we do not cause the spread of the virus in our country.)

Pacquiao further emphasized that the budget should also be allocated in sectors that really need funding to fight COVID-19 and not in other unnecessary projects.

On Montemayor's call for the abolition of the IATF, Pacquiao said: "'Yung IATF hindi ‘yan masama. Kung kailangan palitan ‘yung mga tao na nandyan, ilagay natin ‘yung tamang tao, gagawin natin. For example, problema ng health ito, edi ‘yung may background ng medical ‘yung ilagay natin para alam nila ‘yung ginagawa nila."

(The IATF is not that bad. If we need to change the people who are there, let's just put in the right people. For example, this is a health problem, let's put those with a medical background so that they know what they are doing.)

For presidential candidate and businessman Faisal Mangondato, the government should look for alternative medicines in the country so that it will not only become dependent on COVID-19 vaccines.

The Katipunan ng Kamalayang Kayumanggi’s presidential bet said they should also listen to the health experts in addressing the country’s recovery amid COVID-19 threat.

"Tignan din yung mga gamot dito sa ating bansa na maraming nadiskubre na pwedeng panglunas at dito sa sakit na pandemya na sa ganoon ay hindi lang tayo maging dependent sa vaccine," he said.

(We should also look into other medicines here in our country that can be used to cure the viral disease so that we do not just become dependent on the vaccine.)

 Abella said he would address the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response as "less authoritative but more consultative."

Abella said he would develop a "health security council" which includes the officials from the Department of Health (DOH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and civil society members to implement more consultations among the people.

Asked if his proposed council will replace the current IATF, said "I-widen po natin ang kanyang concern, i-widen po ang participation so that we include also puwede mag-lead ang DOH, isali ang DILG its more civilian approach."

He, however, noted that the backbone of this response would be free mass testing, contract tracing, and implementing lockdowns.

"Kailangan po maasikaso din natin yung pangangailangan ng ating mga healthcare workers and aside from that meron po tayong kailangan po talagang maaddress pa rin yung mga concerns lalo na ang mga taong alanganin sa vaccines (We also need to take care of the needs of our healthcare workers and aside from that we really need to address the concerns especially the people who are hesitant about vaccines). We should be able to address those because part of the concern is that while there is a risk, there should be alternatives allowed," he added.  — RSJ, GMA News