Robredo: Philippines’ low COVID-19 resilience ranking due to non-competitiveness

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday said the Philippines' poor performance in the recent COVID-19 resilience study is due to the national government's non-competitiveness, and that instead of questioning the study it should assess where it could improve.

The Philippines ranked second to the last in the Bloomberg COVID Resilience Ranking of the 53 biggest economies. The Philippines had a score of 45.3, with only Argentina scoring lower.

"'Yong problema sa atin, na sobrang satisfied na kasi tayo sa ginagawa natin kaya hindi tayo nag-e-exert ng effort na humusay kasi para sa atin ang husay na natin. Iyon iyong problema talaga. Kasi kung competitive tayo, ayaw natin na maunahan tayo. Kapag competitive ka dapat, 'sa Southeast Asia kami pinakamahusay,'" Robredo said.

[Our problem is, we get so satisfied with what we're doing that we don't exert effort to improve, because for us we're already doing well. that's the problem. If we were competitive, we would not want anyone to get in front of us. If we're competitive, we should be the best in Southeast Asia.]

"Wala tayong ganoon kasi para sa atin, kuntento na tayo lagi sa ginagawa natin. Dapat sana competitive lagi kasi iyon naman iyong nakakahila para ginagawa natin ang lahat," she added.

[We don't have that because we're content with what we're doing. We should always be competitive because that's what pull us forward.]

Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the globe is to blame for the country's poor performance.

Robredo, however, urged the government to stop questioning the study and instead be more competitive.

"Dapat sana hindi kuwestiyunin. Iyong atensyon, dapat hindi ma-focus sa pag-kuwestiyon noong study. Pero dapat kapag nakakatanggap tayo ng study na ganito, mag-assess saan ba iyong problema natin, ano ba iyong kulang natin," she said.

[We shouldn't focus our attention on questioning the study. When we receive a study like this, we should assess where our problems are, where we are lacking.]

"Wala kasi tayong goal, kuntento na tayo kung nasaan tayo ngayon. Ang problema sakit ito eh. Ang problema, kapag hindi natin hinusayan, ang daming mamamatay sa sakit. Ang nakakalungkot pa nito kung may mamatay sa gutom dahil hindi natin nama-manage nang maayos. So sana, sana iyong pagtingin dito sa ranking mas assessment—mas assessment kung saan tayo nagkakamali para mag-improve tayo," Robredo added.

[We don't have a goal; we're content to stay where we are. The problem is that this is a disease. If we don't get better dealing with it, many will die. So hopefully our response to this ranking is assessment, assessing where we are doing wrong so that we can improve.] — BM, GMA News