Image: Instagram/@frankiepangilinan
Frankie Pangilinan criticized the Department of Health (DOH) secretary Francisco Duque III for his alleged “lack of empathy” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“How does [Duque] sleep at night?” the 19-year-old musician and activist wondered via Twitter yesterday, Aug. 5, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country continues to increase day by day.
how does duque sleep at night
— kakie (@kakiep83) August 5, 2020
For Pangilinan, “the severe lack of empathy anyone would need to be that unapologetically incompetent is seriously beyond understandable.”
“[It’s] so deeply unsettling,” she added.
the severe lack of empathy anyone would need to be that unapologetically incompetent is seriously beyond understandable it’s so deeply unsettling
— kakie (@kakiep83) August 5, 2020
The singer-songwriter’s statement comes a few days after health workers requested for a “time out” from the government by reverting Mega Manila back into stricter quarantine measures from Aug. 1 to 15.
The various medical frontliner groups explained the need for the “distress call” to “recalibrate the government’s COVID-19 strategies,” as the country’s healthcare system continues to be “overwhelmed” by the health crisis.
President Rodrigo Duterte granted the health workers’ appeal last Monday, Aug. 3, by reverting the quarantine measures in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from Aug. 4 to 18.
Prior to the frontliners’ request, on July 31, Duterte announced that Metro Manila would remain under the more lenient general community quarantine (GCQ) for the first two weeks of August.
Pangilinan is among the musicians, lawmakers and other groups who have lambasted the health secretary for his supposed poor handling of the country’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Former senator and Sorsogon Governor Francis Escudero joined the clamor for Duque’s resignation after questioning DOH for tallying 38,000 recoveries in one day last July.
The department recently made adjustments on who could be considered as “recovered” from the disease. According to the new system, mild and asymptomatic cases who stayed healthy for 14 days are now considered recovered patients.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has nearly reached the 116,000 mark with a total of 115,980 confirmed cases as of yesterday, Aug. 6. NVG
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