Vice President Leni Robredo explained an “ambitious” P500-billion COVID-19 response plan which she will prioritize should she win as president in the 2022 national elections.
“We have to be ambitious because our problem is huge,” she said.
The Vice President said many aspects of the plan are already being implemented by her office despite the OVP’s meager budget.
“We are able to execute some of the programs despite our meager budget, which we decided to shift to COVID response. It is possible. We just need to be all hands on deck, all agencies committed, so that unused funds can be channeled for COVID response,” Robredo said.
She cited the discretionary funds of the Office of the President that amount to P4.5 billion and the special purpose funds of other agencies worth around P54 billion.
The Vice President said her plan will prioritize the payment of the medical claims of private hospitals from PhilHealth.
She said appointing a competed Health Secretary is also crucial for the country to recover from the pandemic.
“We will choose someone who is accountable, who will make the bureaucracy accountable, who has technical expertise and who empathizes with our countrymen,” she said as she hit the “slow” response now that she attributed to the shortcomings of Health Sec. Francisco Duque III.
“We are so slow. We could have done so many things quickly,” she said.
Maristela Abenojar, president of Nurses United, said the group believes in Robredo’s freedom from COVID plan.
In particular, Abenojar stressed the need to have a sufficient health budget to take care of nurses and all health workers and health care professionals.