Binay: Duque should resign, not Domingo

MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should be the one to resign instead of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) director general Eric Domingo, for mishandling the medical response against COVID-19, former vice president and senatorial aspirant Jejomar Binay said yesterday.

“The wrong person resigned,” Binay said. “It should have been the health secretary for his mismanagement of the medical response to the pandemic.”

He said Duque’s failure compromised health workers and other frontliners as well as eroded chances of early economic recovery.

Binay said there is an urgent need to improve the government’s response against COVID to facilitate economic recovery.

“If we want the economy to recover, the solution is to improve our medical response to the pandemic. That will never happen under Duque’s watch. We need a competent person leading the Department of Health (DOH),” Binay said.

Domingo resigned as FDA chief on Monday.

“I believe I did my part to help during the pandemic. The FDA is now stronger, more efficient and systems are in place. It’s time for me to move on to other things,” Domingo said.

The DOH assigned FDA deputy director general Oscar Gutierrez as officer-in-charge.

The FDA is responsible for approving emergency use authorization for COVID vaccines manufactured by companies in other countries, among other tasks.