Abella, Robredo asked: Who will be your Health Secretary?

Presidential candidates Ernesto Abella and Leni Robredo on Sunday said the next Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH) must be competent and have integrity.

Speaking at the CNN Philippines presidential debate, Abella said he would prefer to appoint someone with integrity, intelligence, and energy to take on the job.

“I cannot give you the name of course but we're already going through the process," he said.

“This part of what we want to do in our first 100 days na mapuno po yung ating Cabinet [to fill the Cabinet positions] so that we can find the best and the brightest but they will not come from just friends and appointees but we would like to bring them in through a process."

Robredo stated that her choice for DOH chief must be an expert, a capable manager, and have the respect of his or her colleagues.

"Definitely, hindi magiging political ang appointment [It will not be a political appointment]," she said.

"We saw during the pandemic how important [the] DOH leadership [is]. There is no time to spare during times of emergency, kaya iyong nitty-gritty, dapat naasikaso. Dapat naalagaan ang stakeholders laban sa pandemic. Marami pang darating na ganito in the years to come kaya dapat handa na tayo."

(We saw during the pandemic how important the DOH leadership is. There is no time to spare during times of emergency, so the nitty-gritty must be taken care of. The stakeholders must be protected amid the pandemic. There will be more situations like this in the years to come, so we must be prepared.)  — Richa Noriega and Llanesca T. Panti/VBL, GMA News