Robredo says difficult to change DOH secretary at this time

June 25, 2020

Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday said it is hard to change the leadership of the Department of Health during this pandemic crisis that’s why she believes that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should remain amid the ongoing investigation of the Ombudsman against him and other health officials.

In a TV interview, Robredo said: “That’s for me, unless he doesn’t want to listen, then it would be time for him to leave.”.

She added Duque should be open to suggestions, criticism and help being offered by private sectors.

“Letting people (know) that this is all our fight… For example, one of the things that Ombudsman (Samuel) Martires was saying was, 'why is DOH giving'—his term is cold shoulder— “why is DOH giving UP a cold shoulder when we have locally produced testing kits; they just want support… So I think Secretary Duque should be very open to these things,” Robredo said.

Robredo said it's hard to change a “general in the middle of the war”.

“We should be all hands on deck… But I saw an interview of Ombudsman Martires and I understand where he’s coming from… trust is the most important currency. When a person does not trust the leadership, it’s hard to ask for a cooperation—that’s where he is coming from. That's why he’s saying that this investigation is very important because people need to trust DOH, because DOH is at the helm of this fight,” she said.

But she advised Duque to change DOH policies and improve its actions.

Robredo thinks the government did not act urgently and the people became complacent when the coronavirus disease issue started in the country.

“My sense is that we did not act urgently that’s why we felt the gaps now because we became complacent at the very start. If you remember, our first cases started at the end of January and we were still not determined at that time on what steps to take,” she said.

Citing the flights going to and coming from China, Robredo said it took time before the government decided to cancel flights.

“And when finally we decided to cancel flights, we were not… we were not very strict on its implementation… we have seen a lot of flights still coming in from China,” she said.

She added that there is also no urgency in procuring personal protection equipment for medical frontliners.

“That’s why I think we are still catching up instead of going with the experiences of other countries… and this is not good in a sense that China was already—was supposedly an example already for us. We should have learned the lessons of Wuhan already. But during the start, we are too slow,” Robredo said.

The government implemented enhanced community quarantine in the entire island of Luzon on March 17 which lasted until June 15.

The ECQ is being implemented in Cebu City as COVID-19 cases continue rising. Ella Dionisio/DMS