Philippine Red Cross chairman Senator Richard Gordon on Friday said he was not offended by President Rodrigo Duterte’s “mukhang pera” comment – an idiomatic expression in Filipino which is equivalent to a person who values money and riches.
However, he said that the remark was “not really presidential.”
Duterte earlier said “mukhang pera” while Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was announcing that the PRC has resumed COVID-19 swab testing after the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) partially settled its P1.1-billion debt with the organization.
“I’m not offended. I think the President should really be careful. At times he is not aware the statements he makes are not really presidential,” Gordon told reporters in an online press conference.
The PRC chair said he harbored no ill feelings towards the President, but blamed Duque for possibly giving the chief executive a wrong impression about the largest COVID-19 testing organization in the Philippines.
“I think he (Duterte) was misled by the statement. The way the predicate was laid out by Sec. Duque was wrong… He said, ‘The one paid resumed testing,” the senator said.
Gordon said that this was not the first time Duterte insulted him in public.
Last year Duterte said Gordon was a “fart away from disaster” after the senator noted that the President had a penchant for appointing former military officials to his Cabinet.
Gordon said Duterte called to apologize for the comment.
“He called on my birthday and said, ‘Happy birthday, Dick. I just spoke in haste. Let’s forget that’.” Gordon said.
Meanwhile, Gordon said the PRC would continue to work with PhilHealth and the government despite Duterte’s remark.
“I will focus more intensely on the problem at hand,” he said.
“I’ve learned to check my temper, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna fight people who are unfair,” he said.
As of November 5, PhilHealth had paid P700 million to the PRC, but has yet to settle some P377 million in debt, according to data from the Red Cross.
PhilHealth spokesperson Rey Baleña said in an interview with ABS-CBN News that the agency’s debt to PRC for COVID-19 tests as of Thursday was down to around P377 million.
Duque, during a Cabinet meeting, reported that the suspension of PRC swab tests led to a decrease in the nationwide COVID-19 reporting.
“PRC has already been paid and it is open again to continue checking the swab specimen,” Duque said.
This was when Duterte commented: “Mukhang pera.”
Godron said COVID-19 tests conducted by the PRC were now reaching around 10,000 daily.
“If they (PhilHealth) continue to pay the P100 million regularly, the cost will go down to P3,300 or P3,200,” said Gordon.
Gordon warned the non-government humanitarian organization would halt its coronavirus testing program again should PhilHealth, in the new tests being conducted, fail to pay three days after a swab sample was collected.
As of Wednesday, more than 4.6 million individuals in the country have been tested for COVID-19.
