Senator Panfilo Lacson insisted that the country will lose its battle against COVID if Health Secretary Francisco Duque III would not resign.
The Palace and Duque already said he would remain as the health department’s chief and would continue to lead in fighting the pandemic.
Lacson said Senate President Vicente Sotto compared Duque into a “captain ball” who already lost control of the game.
“Ang analogy pa nga ni Senate President, middle of the game, nagkakalat ang captain ball mo. Matatalo tayo sa virus kung ‘yung captain ball na nagdadala ng team medyo ika nga wala sa kondisyon,” he told Dobol B sa News TV.
(Senate President’s analogy is we are in the middle of a game, the captain ball cannot do his job. We will lose against the virus if the captain ball who is carrying the team is not conditioned.)
The senator said their resolution does not involve President Rodrigo Duterte and is a direct call to Duque.
Also read: Duque pushes for 24-hour COVID-19 testing
Lacson: PH will lose against COVID if Duque remains as ‘captain ball’
“Ang panawagan na ito, appeal or demand or kung ano man ang interpretation, alang-alang sa bayan natin dahil marami nang palpak na nangyayari, eh baka pwedeng mag-resign ka na o ibigay mo sa iba na competent,” he said.
(This call, appeal or demand or whatever the interpretation is, just for the sake of our country because there are so many shortcomings. May he just resign or give the position to someone competent.)
Lacson added they did not endorse or recommend any replacements for Duque to keep matters objective.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the resolution calling for Duque’s resignation would be referred to the appropriate committee once the Senate session resumes.
“Pinag-uusapan namin, i-refer na sa Committee of the Whole pero pag-uusapan namin ‘yun. Iko-caucus namin iyon para organized. Kapag Committee of the Whole, ang Senate President ang magpe-preside,” Lacson said.
(We will talk about it. We will refer it to the Committee of the Whole, but we will still discuss it. We will caucus it so it would be organized. The Senate President will preside in the Committee of the Whole.)
Duque, on Friday, admitted his shortcomings in COVID-19 response and apologized.