{"id":244150,"date":"2020-02-05T20:45:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T01:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=244150"},"modified":"2020-02-05T20:45:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T01:45:22","slug":"duterte-still-trusts-duque-despite-solons-criticisms-over-ncov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/05\/duterte-still-trusts-duque-despite-solons-criticisms-over-ncov\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte still trusts Duque despite solons\u2019 criticisms over nCoV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte confers with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III during a briefing on the 2019 novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) at the Malaca\u00f1an Palace on February 3, 2020. TOTO LOZANO\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III still has the trust and confidence of President Rodrigo Duterte despite senators scolding him for the apparent lack of command responsibility in dealing with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation in the country.<\/p>\n

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles made this remark after opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan, in a Senate hearing on Tuesday, criticized Duque for not knowing details involving the spread of the disease, particularly the number of visitors from Wuhan City in Hubei province, China who were undergoing contact tracing.<\/p>\n

Nograles called Pangilinan\u2019s remark an \u201cunfair allegation\u201d, saying a lapse that could easily be rectified did not mean that the DOH\u2019s efforts to prevent the further spread of the disease were a total failure.<\/p>\n

He said Duque has given his subordinates two days to complete the contact tracing of plane passengers who traveled with the Chinese couple found infected with 2019-nCoV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a very unfair allegation. Maybe there are lapses but that will be rectified. In fact, Secretary Duque already said that within two days, 100 percent na yung contact tracing (contact tracing would be 100 percent completed),\u201d Nograles said in a media interview in Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

He said the public should also \u201clook at the bigger picture\u201d by acknowledging the agency\u2019s effort to ensure the safety and health of all Filipinos against the deadly virus.<\/p>\n

Nograles lamented that the public was \u201cpounding on the weakness\u201d in contact tracing, but emphasized that it was not the correct way of managing an ongoing health crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should look at their different aspects in terms of the management of the situation. There are several other aspects the quarantine, health care, the testing, the protocols, coordination of different agencies, coordination with WHO (World Health Organization),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nograles said the best way to handle the situation was to \u201cmove forward\u201d as it was not the only aspect that required immediate attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not take away all of the other efforts that the DOH family is doing. Let\u2019s not take that away from them.\u00a0Mahirap ang trabaho na ginagawa ng mga<\/em>\u00a0health workers\u00a0natin<\/em>\u00a0(The job of our health workers is difficult),\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a lapse, it was admitted, and it will be rectified and we hope the public will continue to support and not constantly look at just one lapse and say failure\u00a0na lahat<\/em>\u00a0(everything is a failure). I think given the circumstances, our health workers have done a pretty good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following calls for Duque\u2019s resignation, Nograles said it was improper for the DOH chief to step down at a time when he is needed the most.<\/p>\n

Nograles said the President did not express disappointment over Duque during Tuesday night\u2019s 46th Cabinet meeting even after he was chided during the Senate hearing earlier on the same day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President still has his trust and confidence\u00a0kay<\/em>\u00a0(on) Secretary Duque and at this point in time\u00a0na umaarangkada naman at ginagawa naman ang<\/em>\u00a0DOH\u00a0lahat<\/em>\u00a0(that the DOH is doing everything it can), I think it\u2019s not the call of the time to do something as drastic as that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have utmost trust and confidence in Secretary Duque that he can do more and perform more. With all of the circumstances, he\u2019s hands-on with everything, he\u2019s done his job so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

To visit or not to visit?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the first batch of Filipino repatriates from Wuhan, the epicenter of the 2019-nCoV outbreak in China, is set to arrive this weekend, Nograles said it was unclear whether the President would be visiting them while they undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.<\/p>\n

He said despite the President\u2019s willingness to visit the Filipino repatriates, the final decision would be made by the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Duterte) wants to be there but there\u2019s still a discussion. That\u2019s going to be a debate between the President and the PSG and the PMS. He wants to keep doing things he\u2019s doing with imposing limitations to his movement,\u201d Nograles said.<\/p>\n

He also assured that Duterte would look after his health despite the Chief Executive\u2019s admission that he continues to shake hands during public engagements.<\/p>\n

During a recent Cabinet meeting, Duterte ordered Duque to go to the site to do an ocular inspection and properly address the Filipino repatriates.<\/p>\n

The first batch of Filipino repatriates is expected to arrive at the Clark Airport on Saturday. They will immediately be transported to the Fort Magsaysay Drug Rehabilitation Center in Nueva Ecija for the mandatory 14-day quarantine.<\/p>\n

About 42 Filipinos in Hubei, mostly from Wuhan, have expressed their desire to return home.<\/p>\n

Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed that there are a total of 300 Filipinos in Hubei, including 150 in Wuhan.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Nograles allayed the fears of residents living near the quarantine facility in Nueva Ecija that it would increase their chance of exposure to the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll quarantine measures will be at its highest level there. All our medical health workers who go in and out of that facility will undergo such extensive quarantine medical protocol so that\u2019s probably going to be the safest place in terms of quarantine protocols and procedures,\u201d he said. \u201cDapat di sila mag-alala<\/em>\u00a0(They shouldn\u2019t worry).\u201d<\/p>\n

Redeployment opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nograles, meanwhile, reassured Filipinos who were barred from traveling to China and its Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau for work that the President would lift the temporary travel ban once the health crisis tapers off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize the concern for their jobs there but we have to balance that with public health, public safety,\u201d he said. \u201cAnyway, it\u2019s not a permanent ban. It\u2019s not something that we won\u2019t be lifting as the situation normalizes or if there\u2019s a better guarantee of the safety and health of our Filipino workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the Department of Labor and Employment would also ensure that affected overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have the opportunity to be redeployed to other countries and receive livelihood assistance.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Bureau of Immigration assured that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration would also put in place measures to ensure that OFWs get to keep their jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III still has the trust and confidence of President Rodrigo Duterte despite …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":244151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244152,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244150\/revisions\/244152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}