MANILA – While he has approved the grant of additional benefits to them, President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed a rant against healthcare workers for trying “to demean the government efforts.”
In an address to the public late Sunday night, Duterte said that the healthcare workers could just have written a letter or asked for an audience to request Metro Manila’s enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) shift instead of going public.
“There is no need for you and for the guys, 1,000 of you, telling us what to do publicly. You could have just written us a letter. Lahat naman ng sinasabi ninyo sinusunod namin,” Duterte said.
“Kung sabihin ninyo you raise the spectacle of agony ninyo, you treat it as if you are about ready to stop work, huwag naman ganon kasi kawawa ang mga kababayan. Sino ang aasahan namin?” he added.
“I am sure that is not in your heart, I am sure that in your despair, I would like to tell you na ang iyong gobyerno ay hindi nag-iiwan ng mga trabahante. We are doing everything possible to alleviate the situation, to assist our healthcare workers,” Duterte said.
In a letter to Duterte over the weekend, medical groups had pleaded for a “timeout,” asking for a two-week return to ECQ in Metro Manila as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country continued to surge.
Duterte responded to the call of the medical group as he placed National Capital Region, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan under modified ECQ for 15 days starting today.
He said that while he understands that the health workers are “bone-weary” after several months of battling the infectious respiratory illness but he said that they should not demean the government efforts against COVID-19.
“Pero huwag kayo magsigaw-sigaw rebolusyon. Sa totoo…Magsabi ka rebolusyon, go ahead, try it. Sirain natin, patayin natin lahat ng mga may COVID. Is that what you want? We can always end our existence in this manner,” he added.
“I dare you, do it,” he further said. “I don’t give a fuck if you gather one thousand, two thousand, but bear in mind na kayo mismo ipa-take over ko…tingnan ko kung ano ang lagay ninyo. We are not incompetents here because we are not doctors.”
Earlier in his speech, Duterte has approved healthcare workers’ additional benefits like risk allowance for private sector healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients; P10,000 to P15,000 for every healthcare worker that gets sick; life insurance; free accommodation; transportation; and testing./PN
