{"id":259306,"date":"2020-06-25T05:35:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T09:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259306"},"modified":"2020-06-25T05:35:22","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T09:35:22","slug":"duterte-govt-taking-right-steps-to-fight-covid-19-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/25\/duterte-govt-taking-right-steps-to-fight-covid-19-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte gov\u2019t taking right steps to fight Covid-19: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. during a press conference at the Presidential Guest House in Panacan, Davao City on January 4, 2018. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s administration is taking appropriate measures to defeat the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) that continues to be a threat to the country, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a virtual press briefing aired on state-run PTV-4, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government is doubling its efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country at the soonest time possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u00a0sa tingin ko po, tama ang mga hakbang na ginawa natin<\/em>\u00a0although we strive better\u00a0at tignan natin kung meron pang mga bagong istratehiya<\/em>\u00a0(So I think, we took the right steps although we strive better and we are also looking for new strategies [to combat Covid-19]),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque issued the statement in response to Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo\u2019s claim that the government has lapses in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic due to lack of sense of urgency.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Robredo said the government failed to \u201cact urgently\u201d at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Robredo added that the Philippines is lagging behind the virus-hit countries that imposed effective measures to fight Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cNararamdaman natin ngayon \u2018yung mga gap kasi naging<\/em>\u00a0complacent\u00a0tayo<\/em>\u00a0(We are feeling the gaps now because we were complacent),\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cHanggang ngayon, marami pa tayong kina<\/em>-catch up instead of\u00a0sumasabay na tayo sa<\/em>\u00a0experiences\u00a0ng iba<\/em>\u00a0(Until now, we\u2019re still catching up instead of having the same experience with others).\u201d<\/p>\n

Covid-19 response \u2018effective\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Refuting Robredo\u2019s claim, Roque said the government\u2019s quarantine rules are \u201ceffective\u201d in arresting the further spread of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Roque stressed that compared to other virus-hit nations, the Philippines has recorded a lower number of Covid-19 cases and death toll.<\/p>\n

As of June 24, the Philippines has reported a total of 32,295 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 8,656 recoveries and 1,204 deaths.<\/p>\n

Had the government failed to act promptly, millions of people in the country would have acquired Covid-19 and over 200,000 would have died, Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it has been effective because 32,000 cases [are] not too bad compared to the hundreds of thousands that other countries have recorded, and 1,000 deaths, although\u00a0talagang nakakalungkot, ay<\/em>\u00a0(it\u2019s really saddening, is) small in comparison to the death rates of other countries,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque expressed hope that while other countries are struggling in fighting Covid-19, the government would be able to stop the Covid-19 transmission in the Philippines as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuong mundo po<\/em>\u00a0(The whole world), we\u2019re far from beating Covid-19. I hope the Philippines can break this worldwide trend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Extending emergency powers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque also reiterated that extending Duterte\u2019s special powers would be advantageous to the country.<\/p>\n

He made the remarks as Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which grants Duterte emergency powers to fight Covid-19, expired Thursday.<\/p>\n

Roque emphasized that Duterte can purchase medical equipment and realign funds for Covid-19 response sans \u201cnormal customary restrictions\u201d because of the temporary special powers granted to him to stop the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo \u2018yun po \u2018yung dahilan kung bakit nagnanais tayo ng<\/em>\u00a0extension\u00a0dahil hindi po natin alam kung ano ang mangyayari sa mga susunod na buwan<\/em>\u00a0(So those are the reasons why we want the extension. Because we do not know what will happen in the succeeding months),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s administration is taking appropriate measures to defeat the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) that continues to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":252612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259306","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=259306"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259308,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259306\/revisions\/259308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}