COVID-19 hotspot denial points to gov't ‘attitude problem’ –Drilon

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Saturday expressed his exasperation with the administration after it denied that the Philippines had become the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hotspot in Southeast Asia, saying that there was a problem with the government's “attitude.”

"Alam mo, dini-dispute na nila na number one na tayo. Sa akin, talagang may problema ang kanilang attitude. Unang-una, hindi mo maiwasan na ang ating bansa ay nangunguna sa contamination,” Drilon said in a radio interview.

The Philippines reported a total of 126,885 COVID-19 cases with 67,117 recoveries and 2,209 fatalities. Indonesia, meanwhile, reported a total of 123,503 cases.

On Friday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque dismissed reports that the Philippines has overtaken Indonesia as the country with the highest number of cases in the region.

Nevertheless, Drilon emphasized that the pandemic was not a competition between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to see who was best at controlling the spread of COVID-19.

"Ako ay naniniwala na hindi ito pagalingan, hindi ito contest, hindi ito race between ASEAN nations. Sa akin, it is a race between the virus and our health system. Ito ay laban ng unseen enemy at ng ating health system,” said Drilon.

"The spread of the virus in the country is worsening… Tayo ba ay nananalo doon sa laban natin? Inuulit ko lang, the contamination rate is getting bad.” — DVM, GMA News