(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte is sending Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to Cebu so he can assess the government’s response to COVID-19 there.
The President made the announcement as he noted what he said were the Cebuanos’ slow response to the pandemic during the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases meeting on Monday night.
“Bakit marami? Because you were too confident and too complacent about it.Binalewala ninyo,” the President said, referring to the confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Cebu City was the only city to revert to an enhanced community quarantine since June 15 after the IATF noted what it said were the rising number of cases there.
In a presentation early in the day, the Department of Health said Cebu City had the highest number of fresh cases this week, at 584, followed by Quezon City with 153.
Central Visayas ranked second on the list of regions that logged the highest number of fresh COVID-19 cases this week, at 937, with Metro Manila ranking first at 1163.
According to the President, Cebu was “forewarned in advance that there was this very dangerous microbe called COVID-19.”
“I am just sad that Cebu has to undergo that kind of painful situation now but nonetheless kaya natin ‘yan,” the President said.
The President said he would formalize Cimatu’s role in the IATF through an executive order.
He said Cimatu would merely give recommendations on what should be done.
“So kayong mga taga Cebu, it’s not that I don’t trust your capability but rather I said it’s the penchant to go into a sort of yung sisihan tapos nobody would answer for anything,” he added.
It was Cimatu, as head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, who spearheaded the six-month-long cleanup in Boracay as ordered by the President.
Cimatu is a retired Armed Forces of the Philippines general.
Apart from Cimatu, the other former military men who are involved in the government’s COVID-19 response are Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, COVID-19 national action plan chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, and Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista.
The President has been very vocal of his support for soldiers, noting their discipline and what he said were their tendency to get things done.