COVID crisis: Govt more fixated with burdening citizens than providing relief, assurance — Binay

The coronavirus pandemic is devastating lives and livelihood but the Duterte administration’s focus seemed somewhere else.

Former Vice President Jojo Binay gave the Duterte government a mouthful about its alleged poor crisis management during the coronavirus emergency.

In a Facebook post, Binay ripped the government for being preoccupied on controlling the narrative and burdening the people instead of limiting the spread of the disease and extending aid and assurance to the nation.

Binay’s critique of the government’s coronavirus response is contained in his latest Manila Bulletin column titled “Fixations,” which he shared on Facebook.

“We have been on lockdown for more than five months but government is more fixated with controlling the narrative than controlling the spread of the virus, to the extent that it dismisses hard data and denies the science when it suits them,” he wrote.

“Even worst is the realization that government is more fixated with burdening and controlling its citizens rather than providing them relief and assurance in uncertain times,” he said.

Binay also criticized the government’s “discordant” statements, from the funding capacity for the COVID programs to the controversial motorcycle barrier requirement for backriding.

President Duterte previously announced the government has run out of money but his economic managers are singing a different tune. The government also initially required barriers to separate the motorcycle driver and passenger but eventually scrapped the idea.

“The national leadership says the funds have run out. And until a vaccine arrives, the populace would have to endure the discomfort and uncertainty since the leadership itself is – by its own admission – useless or inutil,” he said.

“The national leadership’s statement, however, has been clarified and even contradicted by the economic managers, who maintain that government can weather the fiscal storm,” he said

Binay also said the requirement of motorcycle barriers was silly.

HE said the bullheaded refusal of the government to accept contrary views coming from engineers and riding safety experts is “now a trademark of this administration.”

“But in its strident defense of an indefensible policy, these officials overlook or have conveniently forgotten that the policy they imposed applies only to rider and passenger who are married couples. The barrier requirement is pointless, if not downright silly, since married couples do not have barriers between them at home,” he said.

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