Palace defends appointment of ex-military men to pandemic task force: ‘Magaling sila sa logistics’

By Prince Golez

Palace Spokesman Harry Roque on Tuesday defended the appointment of former military men to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Roque said the IATF, a task force organized to manage the country’s response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, is led by former military generals because they manage “logistics” more effectively.

“Wala naman pong na-appoint sa IATF outside of yung mga secretaries at mga namumuno ng opisina. Totoo po, maraming mga military, pero isang dahilan po kung bakit nagtitiwala ang ating presidente e dahil magaling sa logistics ang ating mga military,” the secretary said during his virtual presser.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, former chief of the Philippine Army chief, is the chair of National Task Force Against Covid-19 while Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) sits as vice chair.

Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., also former AFP chief, is the chief implementer of the government’s national policy against Covid-19.

“Ang pinaguusapan ay hindi naman yung papaano magma-manufacture ng bakuna kung hindi paano makakarating ang bakuna sa lalong mabilis na panahon,” he added.

To date, only donated Covid-19 vaccines from China and the COVAX facility have arrived in the Philippines.

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