"We’re barely coping today."
"We’re barely coping today."
A growing number of renowned epidemiologists are expressing the belief that another pandemic of COVID-19 proportions is going to hit the world before very long. In support of their belief, the epidemiologists are pointing to the fact that whereas a century divided the occurrence of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and the outbreak of the current pandemic, major epidemics have occurred with increasing frequency since the start of the 21st century. They cite the Ebola, SARS and MERS epidemics of the last 30 years.
Given the public health experts’ foreboding, the question that by now should be uppermost in the minds of all Filipinos should be this: Is the Philippines likely to be able to cope with the next pandemic that will assault the world? Looking back to the things that have taken place in this country since the March 2020 lockdown, I am inclined to believe that the overwhelming answer to that question would be No.
It is very easy to understand the Filipino people’s sentiment after a review of the government’s handling — mishandling would probably be a more accurate word — of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent/current revelations in Congress regarding the government’s misuse of the meager funds available for financing the anti-pandemic effort and for providing support for the millions of families suddenly deprived of incomes.
Name the sin and IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases), the government’s central policymaking entity, has committed it, failed to do a good job of contact tracing and treating, failed to implement the lockdown system effectively, failed to ensure a smooth and speedy distribution SAP (Social Amelioration Program) benefits, failed to place early orders for sufficient vaccines and failed to give priority to the payment of the frontline workers’ benefits. These and related sins IATF has committed during the 18 months since the March 2020 lockdown. Filipinos have seen how the Russians – IATF’s top officials are called czars, aren’t they? – have botched their mission.
And then there is the can of worms that is Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation’s dealings with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). What the Senate has uncovered in the course of its hearings on the billions of pesos of business done by little Pharmally with the government stinks to high heaven. To be able to cope with a pandemic – the current one and the one that the health scientists say is coming – a government not only must budget funds sufficient for all needs but also, and more important, must ensure that every anti-pandemic peso is efficiently spent. One question that no one asked during the Pharmally hearings was how IATF, a body that includes the Department of Health, did not keep track of how DOH was using the national-budget funds allocated to it for the purchase of COVID-19 equipment and supplies. IATF failed to keep its eye on DOH and DBM.
The Philippines is barely able to cope with the current pandemic. Will it be able to cope with the pandemic that will follow this one? Not likely.
