De Lima scores Duterte admin over worsening COVID situation: Puros ngaw-ngaw, itigil na ninyo ‘yang midnight presscon!

By JOHN CARLO M. CAHINHINAN

Detained Senator Leila de Lima has raised concern over the alarming rate of coronavirus infections in the country.

De Lima made the remarks following the pronouncement made by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the Philippine has now the fastest rise of COVID-19 cases in the Western Pacific region.

“No wonder our own testing rate couldn’t even hit half of the 30,000 daily tests targeted by the government,” said de Lima.

“Pero sa halip na mataranta ang gobyerno, pinupuri pa ang isa’t isa na parang malaking tagumpay ang resulta ng trabaho nila! Mag-aapat na buwan na, pero sa halip na bumuti, mas lalo pang lumalala ang sitwasyon natin at lahat ng datos masama ang pinakikita,” de Lima stressed.

De Lima noted that country has one of, if not, the best trained medical professionals and infectious disease specialists in our region, and we have funds to respond to this health crisis from foreign loans and grants.

She stressed that the only reason for this failure to respond “is the mismanaged use of our human resources and fiscal space to combat the pandemic.”

“We are wasting so much resources without gains. And instead of mobilizing the full expertise of our health sector, the whole approach is still fixated on the use of police and military. Sino ba talaga ang kalaban, ang mga tao o ang virus?” said De Lima.

“Itigil na ninyo ‘yang midnight press con kung wala namang silbi sa taumbayan at hindi n’yo rin naman iuulat ang dapat na iulat. Puros ngaw-ngaw, inaaksaya lang ang oras ng publiko, ng media, at ng lahat,” she added.

De Lima explained that with the government’s incurred loans for COVID-19 crisis, the country’s debt this year will hit a record-high of P9.589 trillion or 49.8 percent of our GDP based on the projection of the cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

“Tapatan naman ninyo ang sakripisyo ng taumbayan, ng pribadong sektor at mga frontliners. Maawa kayo sa mamamayan. Naghihirap na, wala ng mapakain sa pamilya,” she said.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)