Failure in leadership

There is nothing I’d like more than to see Health Secretary Francisco Duque III succeed as chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID). But as events unravel, it’s clear that he is the wrong man for the job.

My sentiments were echoed by members of the Senate. Last week, a group of 15 senators filed a resolution seeking the immediate resignation of Secretary Duque citing “failure in leadership.”

President Duterte rejected the petition and affirmed his confidence in the Secretary. He instructed him to “stay put” and just work harder to dispel doubts about his competence.

The President has his point of view and the last say on the matter – which I respect. However, it does not make the views of the 15 senators and members of civil society, myself included, any less valid. These are the reasons why I feel Sec. Duque is miscast for the job.

It boils down to a weak character, lack of organizational and slow response.

Recall how the health secretary was too scared to stand up to the President and insist that a travel ban be imposed on Chinese visitors during the height of the virus spread in China. Instead, he succumbed to the President’s love-fest for Xi Jinping and argued in favor of the Chinese. This displayed his lack of conviction and propensity to prioritize politics over his sworn mission.

Duque displayed a cavalier and dismissive attitude during the early days of the pandemic. Without a sense of urgency, he failed to do contact tracing on the 31 persons under investigation (PUIs) and on the first confirmed COVID case last Jan. 21. This left the IATF blind as to where the virus hotspots were. If contact tracing was done, we could have isolated these hotspots and avoided the spread of the virus in other localities. Even now, there are no clear mechanisms for contact tracing.

But this is not the worst of Duque’s sins. The COVID-19 outbreak started in December and the health secretary had two months to prepare the country’s defenses against the pandemic. The time could have been used to procure testing kits and organizing testing across the archipelago, increase the absorptive capacities of hospitals, accumulate personal protective equipment (PPE) and stockpile inventories of antibiotics and medical supplies. Very little preparation occurred.

 A competent head of the IATF-EID would have formulated an overarching strategy and aligned the right talents and right resources to the right programs. What we lack in funds should have been compensated for by careful planning and the smart use of resources. This explains why our healthcare system was overwhelmed when the full brunt of the pandemic slammed the country last month.

Duque’s sins of omission put our people in a perilous position. As a result, the Philippines now has the most number of COVID cases and casualties in Southeast Asia. In fact, a survey conducted by the Deep Knowledge Group revealed that the Philippines is among the top 10 countries facing the most serious risks in this pandemic. 

Making matters worse was how the Secretary hindered the quick release of donated PPEs to hospitals by imposing multiple bureaucratic hurdles. This sent the signal that government lacked a sense of urgency and that the DOH was a stumbling block to solutions, not an enabler of it.

 The President made his decision to keep Secretary Duque and we have no choice but to live by it. As we move forward, the Secretary will do well to consult experts in management to help him in policy formulation, organization and implementation. He needs all the help he can get.

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Last week, we lost a good member of the Cabinet in the person of Socioeconomic Secretary Ernesto Pernia. His resignation, due to “differences in development philosophies,” suggests a divided Cabinet.

 One of the reasons why I remain optimistic about the country’s future is because technocrats like Secretary Pernia ensure me that sensible economic policies prevail over populist decisions. His voice of reason in the Cabinet will be missed. 

I had the privilege to interact with Mr. Pernia on several occasions, one of which was when we were both guests in the talk show “The Chiefs.” Without doubt, he has one of the best economic minds in the country, not to mention one of the most humble and honest personas in government. Thanks to his contributions, the 10-point socio-economic agenda of the Duterte administration was formulated and the country has enjoyed three successive years of stellar growth. 

We thank Mr. Pernia for his service and wish him well on his future pursuits. We look forward to reading the book he is about to write. 

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua was named Mr. Pernia’s replacement as NEDA Secretary.

 Mr. Chua comes with sterling credentials, not the least of which is a doctorate degree in economics from the University of the Philippines. He was the chief economist of the Strategy, Economics, and Results Group of the Department of Finance. This is the group responsible for giving advice to the economic team and working on the fine print of key reforms from planning to implementation. 

Mr. Chua worked closely with Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez in formulating the parameters of the TRAIN and CITIRA tax laws. We can say that Mr. Chua is a protégé of the finance chief.

 I hope their close relationship does not get in the way of NEDA acting as a check and balance to the Department of Finance.

 I also hope that his young age (he is 41) and inexperience in politics will not betray him. In a political snake-pit like the Cabinet, its easy to be overwhelmed by large personalities (and egos) whose agenda compromises the greater good. I wish for Mr. Chua to be a stronghold of good economics, like Secretary Pernia was, no matter the political cost.