To say that the Philippines is almost done battling against the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a lie. On April 16, 2020, 15 Filipino senators expressed their dissatisfaction with how the country’s Department of Health secretary Francisco Tiongson Duque III is handling the situation.
The senators filed a resolution calling for the resignation of Duque. The Philippine secretary of health was accused of failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight and inefficiency in the performance of his mandate as the secretary of the Department of Health resulting in poor planning, delayed response, lack of transparency and misguided COVID-19 pandemic that endangered the lives of our healthcare professionals, other frontliners and the Filipino people.
Duque was appointed as the interim DOH secretary on October 26, 2017 and was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on February 9, 2018. Here is the list of 15 senators of the Philippines who want him to resign:
- Vicente “Tito” Sotto III
- Ralph Recto
- Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri
- Sonny Angara
- Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay
- Grace Poe
- Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao
- Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian
- Francisco Tolentino
- Joel Villanueva
- Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa
- Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos
- Manuel “Lito” Lapid
- Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
- Panfilo “Ping” Lacson Sr.
Sotto is the Senate President while Recto is the Senate President Pro Tempore. Zubiri is the Senate Majority Leader.
While Recto’s name was on the resolution calling for the resignation of Duque, the senator’s signature was not affixed. But according to Sotto, the Senate President Pro Tempore was also a co-author.
Duque has yet to respond to the resolution. Meanwhile, here is a message from Pacquiao:
Categories: Asia, fitness & health, Lifestyle, LISTS, Philippines, politics
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