Press Release
March 23, 2021

STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON OVERHAULING THE IATF

Yesterday was another record breaker at 8,019 infections.

At 8,000 cases a day, it will take just over a month to hit 1 million COVID-19 cases, and just about 3 months to double our current number of infections which originally took us a whole year to reach. It is clear as day that we need to overhaul the IATF and replace its members with public health experts who actually know how to handle a public health emergency.

The extreme call is to abolish the IATF, but during a pandemic, an interagency body is necessary. It must be led by public health experts and epidemiologists. Not by military officers.

This is a system-wide failure. The IATF has continuously and confidently walked in the wrong direction, backwards, no matter how many times the public and lawmakers have called them out. Hindi nila alam kung ano ang ginagawa nila, hindi sila nakikinig sa mga eksperto, in denial din sila sa mga pagkukulang nila, kaya hindi maaayos yung pandemic response natin. We must undertake a complete management overhaul of the IATF.

We need health experts who will lead the way, just like in other countries. We need a team of public health managers who understand that we need a systematic health approach and have the expertise to accomplish their mandate of effectively and scientifically controlling the coronavirus. Importante ang IATF, but it cannot be led by incompetent and short-sighted decision makers.

Patuloy na nagsasakripisyo ang taumbayan araw-araw dahil ayaw harapin ng IATF ang resulta ng palpak nilang pamamalakad. Stop forcing the Filipino people to martyr themselves just to keep a few in positions of power. The public has put up long enough with the IATF's gross mishandling of the most basic solutions of test, trace, isolate and treat. Nakailang mutations na yung coronavirus sa isang taon, pero hindi pa rin tayo gumagraduate sa kindergarten. Kailan tayo matututo?

It has come to a point in which their failures are inexcusable and unforgivable. Overhaul the IATF immediately.

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