Mark Steven M. Noble
Philo 11 Journal Entry Week 3
On March 19, 2021 we recorded the highest ever single-day tally of Covid cases, at a
staggering number of 7999, just little shy off 8000. This sets as a precedent of yet another wave of
covid cases, after merely doing anything about the previous peaks.
From this report of iMPACT Leadership (2021), Secretary of the Department of Health,
Francisco Duque, said and I quote: “Hindi naman natin alam na papalo ng ganito kataas. So we
have to make adjustments.”
This made my blood boil. Because first of all, he is the secretary of the Department of
Health. Aside from that, he is part of the IATF, the authoritative body handling the pandemic.
Technically speaking, no one would really be able to predict the exact number of cases on the
following days, but if he were doing his job seriously, he would have known that by the steps taken
by this government (or the lack thereof), it would be logical to have projections of its dramatic
increase.
What he said is just a complete belittlement of the masses, as if we would not have known
that this was possible, or that he was accountable for it. As a public official, one thing you should
know is that the masses are not dumb. Hindi tanga ang masa.
The logic was just not there. I was not buying this appeal to ignorance, hence why I decided
to write about it. He obviously has the position, the degree, the expertise, the budget, the intel, and
even the tools to know these things, and find a way to solve or mitigate them. But ever since the
pandemic started, the leaders of the IATF and our very own DOH Secretary has been impotent and
ineffective with their policies and has even downplayed the gravity of the situation just to save
face. Most of them have also violated the rules they set. But they continue to enforce the idea that
they are successful in handling our response. Obviously, the numbers say otherwise.
I do hope we get through this soon, but that will not be happening until our leaders learn to
take accountability and make potent policies backed with research, putting the budget where it
should be.
References:
iMPACT Leadership (2021) 19 March. Available at www.fb.com/iMPACTLeadershipPH
(Accessed: 21 March 2021)