(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, Dec. 3, reiterated his call for “universal access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and technologies,” noting that it would be a “gross injustice that will haunt the world for a long time” if any country was excluded “by reason of poverty or strategic unimportance.”
In his pre-recorded message aired during the 31st Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic, the President added this would “completely discredit the values upon which the (UN) were founded.”
“No one is safe unless everyone is safe,” he said.
He noted the Philippines “strongly supports” global medical and scientific initiatives forged at the World Health Organization, and, together with other member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement, the “global health agenda with adequate resourcing and policy space” for the organization.
The Philippines, for its part, he said, would “contribute to the pooling of global resources and help other countries without preconditions.”
“Our collective initiatives in the UN and other multilateral frameworks are our best chance to defeat COVID-19,” he said.
Global ceasefire
The President also said the Philippines supports the Secretary General report for global ceasefire, noting that “combatting terrorism is just as urgent as now as it was before the pandemic.”
He said the country “wants to ensure the swift and unimpeded provision of medical care for all Filipinos especially the most vulnerable.”
“In my country, this fight is about protecting life while preserving the democratic values we have restored without violence,” he said.
Comprehensive, inclusive recovery
According to President Duterte, while the “end of this pandemic is still difficult to see,” the “broad outlines of the horizon are breaking through.”
As such, he said it was “never too early to think of the bouncing back strategy.”
The Philippines, for one, he said, “aims for a comprehensive and inclusive recovery with no one left behind.”
“We’re using all available socioeconomic instruments to protect our hard-won gains in development. Our recovery plan is built on solid macroeconomic and fiscal fundamentals with a funding allocation equivalent to 9.1 percent of GDP, he said, as he called on member-states to use the opportunity to establish a new normal “using lessons from the crisis.”
“Now is the time to further strengthen our network of solidarity and cooperation. The time is now for greater collective courage, meaningful actions to see the end of this pandemic with the path to see how far we can go working with each other and how much we can achieve not as separate nations but one humanity,” he said.
“There is simply no other way for our (UN),” he added.
In its official website, the UN said the two-day special session–held virtually–“provides an opportunity for the international community to assess and hone its collective response to this pandemic.”
This is the second time President Duterte spoke before the UNGA.
In September, the President called for “coordinated international plans and efforts” to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
