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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-9/robredo-august-2020-sm.webp" alt="Leonor Robredo" />
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(Leonor Robredo)
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What is glaringly apparent is she appears to be either completely ignorant or just partisan, blind to the fact that her suggestions have long been undertaken and are continuously being done by the government. The other matters she raised are likewise being monitored or improved upon by government and various departments and instrumentalities.


As early as April 2020, the Finance Department already reported that the government spent P352.7 billion in battling the pandemic. On June 24, the Department of Budget and Management came out with the report that the government disbursed P355 billion for its response to the health threat. 


Robredo urges the government to spend more and to spend quickly. Where was she when these figures were reported? Where was she last August 8 when Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that, “without continued and increased public sector spending, especially on infrastructure, public health and social protection, the first-semester GDP (gross domestic product) would have shrunk by a total of 11.5 percent, 2.5 percentage points more than the actual 9 percent?”

During the meeting of selected Inter-Agency Task Force members presided by the President the other night, aired yesterday morning, August 25, 2020, Secretary Dominguez gave an update on the Small Business Wage Subsidy program of the government, which has already disbursed P41 billion to the beneficiaries. It is an efficient and effective subsidy program by reason of the following implementation: 

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digitalization of the subsidy program; 
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direct distribution of aid to the bank or e-wallet accounts of intended beneficiaries; and 
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close administrative oversight of critical steps of the program. The government ensures the timelines and implementation of the system. 
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The Department of Finance (DOF) tapped entities belonging to the private sector, like Microsoft, to assist in the program, with Secretary Dominguez confirming it shall be adopted to future subsidy programs of the government.


Robredo either failed to understand this program or deliberately ignored its gains.


Secretary Rolando Bautista of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported on the fund utilization of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP). Secretary Bautista said the total budget for the implementation of the SAP is in the amount of P207.6 billion. For VP Robredo's information, P197 billion was already released by the Department of Budget and Management in tranches on 2 and 16 April, and 24 June. In order to support the necessary budgetary requirements of the program, P10.6 billion was taken from the realigned regular budget of the DSWD.


Along with its payout partners, both in the direct and digital schemes, the department is ensuring that the subsidies are distributed to its intended recipients to secure a 100 percent accomplishment rate.


Apropos the issue on contact tracing, Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año requested Congress two weeks ago to allocate P5 billion out of the P162 billion under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or Bayanihan 2, for the hiring and training of contact tracers, acting on the recommendations of Baguio City Mayor and Contact Tracing Czar Benjamin Magalong of a 1:37 patient to close contacts ratio, aside from the fact that as of mid-July, the government's contact tracing capability has already reached 98.2 percent by organizing 5,126 contact tracing teams with 67,683 members.


Where was Robredo when these developments were being reported? Doesn't she read the newspapers, or watch TV news on her favorite channel?


For mass testing, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that the Philippines already has a rated testing capacity of 50,000 by mid-June. Presently, the Philippines has the second highest number of tests conducted in Asia, with nearly 1.4 million tests made as of 26 July. It is at the top spot when it comes to COVID-19 testing capacity in the entire Southeast Asian region.



Given that Robredo suggests to improve our data collection relative to positive cases, where was she when the DoH reported to the nation a few days ago that it is now reporting COVID-19 cases, recoveries and deaths in real-time? It appears that VP Robredo also missed the news last week when World Health Organization (WHO) country representative to the Philippines Rabindra Abeyasinghe acknowledged our expansion of our testing capacity.


She must have been inattentive again when WHO-Western Pacific regional director Takeshi Kasai lauded the Philippines' efforts in improving its health care capacity and curbing the spread of the COVID-19.


Relative thereto, based on the report of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process and NTF COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., also in the same meeting, majority of the cases in the country are asymptomatic and mild cases. Based on recent data, out of the 55,236 positive cases, around 50,000 or 91.5 percent are mild cases.


The DSWD already has a cash-for-work program while the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has implemented TUPAD or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers. Robredo's suggestion on this matter is late. We are already looking forward to Bayanihan 2, which aims to provide P15 billion for the cash-for-work program of the DSWD and TUPAD of the DOLE.

Robredo appears to be either completely ignorant or just partisan