MANILA – If not for the COVID-19 task force leading the pandemic response, the country would not have been able to prevent more deaths caused by the new coronavirus disease.
This was how presidential spokesperson Harry Roque defended the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) against calls for its abolition to let local government units (LGUs) take over in the COVID-19 response.
According to him, the IATF crafted policies that effectively enabled the government to address the health crisis.
“Sa tingin ko po, tama po na nagkaroon tayo ng IATF. We do not claim to have been perfect, but certainly, let’s give recognition where it is due,” Roque said in a press briefing.
“Dahil nakikita naman po natin, naiiwasan natin ang mas marami pa sanang kamatayan or mga taong namatay kung hindi po tayo nag implement ng measures na sinangguni at binuo ng ating IATF,” he added.
As of Wednesday, the Philippines’ case fatality rate is at 1.51 percent after 38,164 deaths were recorded out of the 2.53 million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started last year.
It was Senator Joel Villanueva who said the IATF should be abolished as it was no longer effective in addressing the pandemic.
“Kung wala pong IATF, wala po tayong naging desisyon [sa] pagbili po sa bakuna sa buong bayan, sa buong bansa. Wala po tayong nagkaroon ng alert level system, ng mga quarantine classification,” Roque said.
“Napakahirap po kasi gawin ;yan kung walang kumukumpas. Ang papel lang naman po ng IATF ay taga-kumpas. Talaga naman po ang magpapatupad po nyan ay mga lokal na pamahalaan,” he continued.
Roque also noted that it was not under the Duterte administration when the IATF was created.
It was the late president Benigno S. Aquino III who ordered the establishment of the IATF in 2014 to address the emergence of various infectious diseases.(©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
