Panelo slams Hontiveros' criticism of gov't's COVID-19 plan
Published Mar 31, 2020 01:34 pm
By Genalyn Kabiling
Senator Risa Hontiveros should study President Duterte's report to Congress on government efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic for her enlightenment instead of seeking "media hype" and contributing to “misinformation,” Malacañang said Tuesday night.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo (PCOO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo sought an end to the "nitpicking madness" after Hontiveros criticized President Duterte for his alleged lack of a concrete plan to address the public health emergency.
"The Office of the President has already submitted to both Houses of Congress the President’s 18-page report detailing the actions undertaken by the Executive Branch to suppress the further transmission and spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country. The good Senator may want to study the same for her enlightenment instead of courting media hype," Panelo said in a statement Tuesday night.
"We urge her to engage in an intelligent and productive discourse and help in the battle against COVID-19 and not to contribute to the misinformation widely peddled in the social media by the purveyors of confusion and panic designed to put the President in a bad light,” he added.
Hontiveros earlier commented that the President should act with urgency in implementing measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The senator said the public was neither given a sound assessment nor a concrete plan to address the coronavirus threat during the President's televised message.
Panelo said the Palace was "aghast at the insensitivity and chutzpah" of Hontiveros for chiding the President for his supposed lack of sense of urgency and concrete plan to address the contagion.
He noted that Hontiveros was the only senator that voted against the Bayanihan measure that grants the President additional powers to address the coronavirus emergency.
"Where was she all this time when PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) decisively acted on the national grave threat we face by undertaking aggressive measures to curb the spread of COVID-19? Was she perhaps hard on hearing when she was watching the televised message of the President as commented by one of her colleagues in the Senate? How could she have missed the program articulated by the Chief Executive?" he asked.
Panelo also asked if Hontiveros failed to catch on media the President's signing of the Bayanihan measure as well as the daily briefings of the Inter Agency Task Force for the Management on Emerging Infectious Diseases on how it was implementing the law.
"When the proposed bill was being debated in the Senate, did she not oppose its passage? What was she then opposing in the proposed legislation?" the Palace official asked.
Panelo bewailed that the President's "usual rambunctious" critics were at it again following "a graveyard of silence for three weeks."
He alleged that the anti-Duterte critics were aided by "a notoriously known biased media outlet."
"The latter reported a blog entry and tweets of a few entertainers and netizens criticising PRRD's televised address to the nation last night as allegedly lacking in transparency and a plan to fight the coronavirus disease," he said.
Panelo maintained that in Duterte's public address, the President outlined the government's measures to feed for two months 18 million low-income households, acquire medical equipment and supplies, provide sufficient personal protective equipment supplies for health workers, establish testing facilities and laboratories to enhance our health system, and assist the farmers and the fisher-folks in their hour of distress, among others.
He said the President also highlighted the unimpeded supply of food and agricultural products as well the enforcement of the law against hoarders and profiteers.
"The President forcefully stresses the immediate suspension, arrest and the prosecution of errant local officials who will politicize the distribution of food packages and abscond the amelioration fund assistance to be given to their constituents," he said.
He said the President also paid tribute to the heroism of the country's frontliners including those who gave their lives in the service of the nation.
Duterte has also extended gratitude for the generous donations of medical supplies, PPEs, and other essential commodities and services coming from various countries, private corporations, individuals, and anonymous donors.
"He also appeals to the private employers to take care of their employees and implores all of us to take care of one another and unite as one as we face this country’s greatest crisis," Panelo added.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo (PCOO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo sought an end to the "nitpicking madness" after Hontiveros criticized President Duterte for his alleged lack of a concrete plan to address the public health emergency.
"The Office of the President has already submitted to both Houses of Congress the President’s 18-page report detailing the actions undertaken by the Executive Branch to suppress the further transmission and spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country. The good Senator may want to study the same for her enlightenment instead of courting media hype," Panelo said in a statement Tuesday night.
"We urge her to engage in an intelligent and productive discourse and help in the battle against COVID-19 and not to contribute to the misinformation widely peddled in the social media by the purveyors of confusion and panic designed to put the President in a bad light,” he added.
Hontiveros earlier commented that the President should act with urgency in implementing measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The senator said the public was neither given a sound assessment nor a concrete plan to address the coronavirus threat during the President's televised message.
Panelo said the Palace was "aghast at the insensitivity and chutzpah" of Hontiveros for chiding the President for his supposed lack of sense of urgency and concrete plan to address the contagion.
He noted that Hontiveros was the only senator that voted against the Bayanihan measure that grants the President additional powers to address the coronavirus emergency.
"Where was she all this time when PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) decisively acted on the national grave threat we face by undertaking aggressive measures to curb the spread of COVID-19? Was she perhaps hard on hearing when she was watching the televised message of the President as commented by one of her colleagues in the Senate? How could she have missed the program articulated by the Chief Executive?" he asked.
Panelo also asked if Hontiveros failed to catch on media the President's signing of the Bayanihan measure as well as the daily briefings of the Inter Agency Task Force for the Management on Emerging Infectious Diseases on how it was implementing the law.
"When the proposed bill was being debated in the Senate, did she not oppose its passage? What was she then opposing in the proposed legislation?" the Palace official asked.
Panelo bewailed that the President's "usual rambunctious" critics were at it again following "a graveyard of silence for three weeks."
He alleged that the anti-Duterte critics were aided by "a notoriously known biased media outlet."
"The latter reported a blog entry and tweets of a few entertainers and netizens criticising PRRD's televised address to the nation last night as allegedly lacking in transparency and a plan to fight the coronavirus disease," he said.
Panelo maintained that in Duterte's public address, the President outlined the government's measures to feed for two months 18 million low-income households, acquire medical equipment and supplies, provide sufficient personal protective equipment supplies for health workers, establish testing facilities and laboratories to enhance our health system, and assist the farmers and the fisher-folks in their hour of distress, among others.
He said the President also highlighted the unimpeded supply of food and agricultural products as well the enforcement of the law against hoarders and profiteers.
"The President forcefully stresses the immediate suspension, arrest and the prosecution of errant local officials who will politicize the distribution of food packages and abscond the amelioration fund assistance to be given to their constituents," he said.
He said the President also paid tribute to the heroism of the country's frontliners including those who gave their lives in the service of the nation.
Duterte has also extended gratitude for the generous donations of medical supplies, PPEs, and other essential commodities and services coming from various countries, private corporations, individuals, and anonymous donors.
"He also appeals to the private employers to take care of their employees and implores all of us to take care of one another and unite as one as we face this country’s greatest crisis," Panelo added.