Palace on 2nd to last ranking in pandemic response: Gov't policy is health above all

The Palace on Wednesday assured the public that protecting the health of people amid the COVID-19 pandemic is its priority, in response to the Bloomberg Resilience findings ranking the country's pandemic response as second to worst.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made the comment after the  Philippines ranked 52nd in June in the Bloomberg COVID Resilience Ranking of the 53 largest economies. The Philippines had a score of 45.3 or only ahead of Argentina which had a score of 37. 

"Ulitin lang po natin, ang ating choice ngayon ay hindi between health and the economy. It is about total health," Roque said over state-run PTV-4. 

(We repeat that this is not a choice between health and economy.) 

"Ang ating mga polisiya ngayon ay talagang ini-ensure na hindi lang mapapababa ang numero ng COVID kung hindi maiiwasan din po ang pagkagutom sa hanay ng ating kababayan," Roque added.

(Our policies ensure reduction in COVID-19 cases and avoiding hunger among our people.) 

Roque also said the economy will eventually recover from the slump brought by restrictions on mobility and operations which have been put in place to prevent virus transmission.

"Hindi natin makakailala na malaki ang naging epekto ng pandemiya sa ating ekonomiya. Pero ang ating economic team naman ay kampante na tayo po ay unti-unti nang bumabangon at tuluyang makakabangon," Roque added.

(We cannot deny the effect of the pandemic on our economy, but our economic team is confident that we are slowly recovering and will fully recover.)

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III meanwhile on Wednesday said the inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the globe is to blame for the Philippines’ poor performance in the latest COVID Resilience Ranking.

Interviewed on GTV’s Balitanghali, Duque said the country’s COVID-19 vaccine coverage is low because rich nations have hoarded supplies.

“Hindi maganda itong kanilang ranking na ito dahil hindi naman natin kontrolado ‘yung vaccine supply (This ranking isn’t good because we don’t have control over the vaccine supply),” Duque said.

The health chief added that the lockdown severity in the Philippines is high also because of its low vaccine coverage. —KG, GMA News