Duterte aides assigned to help fight COVID-19
MANILA: The Duterte administration has adopted the “Big Brother” concept by assigning each of the Cabinet members to assist and advise local officials particularly mayors in high-risk areas to help pursue a more aggressive campaign to stop the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Secretary Carlito Galvez, the chief implementer of the National Action Plan against COVID-19, explained the move aimed mainly to plug any gap in the communication and dissemination of policies as well as their implementation on the ground or local level.
Galvez, also the presidential adviser on the peace process, said the Big Brother assignment was contained in a resolution approved by the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“They (Cabinet men) are more knowledgeable about our economy. They can guide our LGUS (Local Government Units) like a Big Brother or Sister to our mayors,” said Galvez, also a retired military general.
The term “Big Brother” was coined by author George Orwell in his best-selling 1949 novel entitled “1984” which dealt with supreme authority in a totalitarian society.
In this light, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon warned and reminded Cabinet officials acting as Big Brothers to observe constitutional principles in local annd fiscal autonomy as he asked: “Is the Big Brother watching us the new normal?”
“We cannot take away,” Drilon noted, “some powers or freedom in the name of the war on COVID-19. The LGUS should be allowed to perform their functions with full autonomy as mandated by the Constitution.”
Drilon, a former justice undersecretary, also stressed: “What we want to prevent here is overstepping of authority. There is a thin line that separates supervision and control. It is always a subject of overreach by the national government.”
But Karlo Nograles, the secretary to the Cabinet and IATF member, disputed Drilon’s warning, saying the use of Cabinet men to the LGUS aimed to hasten the coordination between the national government as well as local officials especially the mayors.
As conceived, the Cabinet officials will act as “overseer, coordinator and abler of the LGU while the efforts against COVID-19 will still be with the local officials,” Nograles said.
At least 23 Cabinet officials have been assigned to oversee mayors in Metro Manila and four neighboring provinces — Cavite, Laguna and Rizal in Southern Luzon and Bulacan in Central Luzon — which were placed under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) by President Duterte with effect from Aug.4 to 18.