Duterte hits “kibitzers,” “idiots” trying to instill fear amid nCoV outbreak

February 10, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte slammed on Monday those "kibitzers in politics" and "idiots" who have been trying to portray that the government did not do anything to prevent the entry of dreadful novel coronavirus in the country.

In a speech before the local government officials in Pasay City, Duterte said those idiots were trying to instill fear among the people.

"What I would like to stress to you is this. There are some kibitzers in politics, idiots if you may, that when this (nCoV) broke out they are asking: What is the government of the Republic of the Philippines doing?" he said.

He said the critics were saying that there was no infrastructure to address the problem.

"All pessimistic. All they want was to sow fear. You know, we are the infrastructure," he said, citing the health workers from the Department of Health, the provincial, municipal, city and barangay government units.

"These will really be the frontliners when the time comes," he said.

He said it is a "stupid thing" to sound alarm right now about the nCoV.

But he assured that when the situation worsens, the government has the fund to be used.

“The national government remains to be on top of the threat of the coronavirus. We are prepared to handle this public health emergency in case the worst scenario happens," he said.

Duterte also said the government is ready to fetch all the Filipinos abroad in case they would be rejected by other countries.

"I will bring them home because they have no other country to seek shelter...we will marshal all available carriers there by ship or by air. We will fetch them," he said.

But he said the government would implement the protocols and other precautionary measures to ensure that the virus would not spread in the country.

In the Philippines, there are over 300 persons under investigation of nCoV, including the three confirmed cases.

A male Chinese national from Wuhan died in the country last week, the first nCoV-related death outside of China. Celerina Monte/DMS