Presidential Palace cites ‘excellent’ handling of pandemic

THE PRESIDENTIAL Palace on Monday touted its “excellent” response to the coronavirus pandemic, a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic.

Presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. said the government had managed to control the virus compared with richer nations such as the United States, where half-a-million people have died.

“We were excellent,” he told a televised news briefing. “We controlled the spread of the disease unlike richer nations that have more and advanced hospitals,” he said in Filipino.

The coronavirus has killed more than 12,000 Filipinos. It also forced the government to lock down many areas, leading to the shutdown of many companies that had to lay off some of its workers.

Last year, the Philippines fell to its worst recession since World War II as economic output shrank by 9.5%.

“The fact that we are still under a general community quarantine shows the failed pandemic response,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

“We have the longest quarantine. We have the longest school closures. We have the worst drop in gross domestic product. We are the last ASEAN country to receive a vaccine. How is that excellent?”

Former Social Welfare Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo said the Duterte administration “excelled” in militarizing a public health issue.

More than 120,000 violators of quarantine protocols were arrested in the Philippines amid what was considered as the strictest and longest lockdown in

Southeast Asia, United Nations

High Commissioner for Human

Rights Michelle Bachelet said last year.

The list included aid distributors, jeepney drivers, rallyists and other sectors critical of the slow delivery of social services during the pandemic.