MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte was not belittling the year-long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
“Ang sinasabi po ng Presidente, babangon po tayo, at malapit na po ‘yan at parating na ang mga bakuna,” Roque said on Tuesday. “At ang COVID-19 ay temporary lang po, hindi ‘yan forever, lilipas din ‘yan.”
Duterte drew flak anew from critics and netizens after saying in his public address on Monday evening that the COVID-19 pandemic is just “a small thing in our lives.”
“Kaya natin ito. Itong COVID-19. Maliit na bagay lang ito. Madami tayong nadaanan. Huwag kayong matakot, hindi ko kayo iwanan,” Duterte said, allaying fears of Filipinos about the increasing cases of COVID-19.
Roque explained that Duterte was talking about the resilience of Filipinos amid pandemic but admitted that the casualties and unemployment were “tragedy.”
“Hindi minamaliit ng Presidente ang paghihirap ng sambayanan,” he said. “Kinalulungkot natin ang mga nawalan ng trabaho, ang mga namatay.”
The country started its COVID-19 vaccination program earlier this month and its vaccine supply from Sinovac BioNTech and AstraZeneca only stands at 1.12 million doses which is not enough to vaccinate 1.7 health workers in two doses.
On Monday, the Philippines reported another record-high of 5,404 new infections. In total, the country has 626,893 COVID-19 cases – 53,479 are active, 560,577 have recovered, and 12,837 died./PN
