Kabataan Partylist denounced the criminal state neglect of the Duterte administration and its blatant bargaining of the public’s health in the face of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, just to retain its “special relations” with the Chinese government.

Just this month of January, the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV has been a global health concern. Cases of infection with the virus has been reported even outside China, prompting different nations to implement a temporary ban of travels coming from China.

The World Health Organization (WHO) even declared a public health emergency of international concern last January 30, but while this was the case, the country is still pegged with an administration that seemingly lacks the sense of urgency and concern for public welfare, said Kabataan Partylist in a statement on Thursday.

Government urgency and response have also been realized not without public protest, the group said. “While the international community has been hand-in-hand in trying to contain and combat the 2019-nCoV outbreak, the Duterte administration pretends that the outbreak is under control, declaring a travel ban only after the DOH confirmed the first death of nCov outside China which happened here in the Philippines,” said the Kabataan Partylist.

“Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo even went as far as defending the administration’s inutility by saying, ‘How can you give [face masks for free] if there’s none?’ depriving our own citizens of face masks while ironically exporting $1.4 million (P 71 million) worth of protective masks to Wuhan,” the group said.

The Senate hearing on the 2019-nCoV turned into a circus, with President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies showing poorly-researched conspiracy theories and lambasting critics for raising the alam and clamoring for government action, Kabataan Partylist said.

The hearing also laid bare the Department of Health (DOH) difficulties in tracing those who have come in contact with the carriers from China, symptomatic of a health system weak from decades of insufficient budgets.

“And while the public have been demanding holistic healthcare support, the government heightened its military operations through Executove Order 168, allowing a special task force comprised of the AFP and the PNP to intervene in handling potential public health emergencies. What the people need in health situations such as this are health professionals and practitioners that are specially trained in this field, not uniformed men that will only intensify militarization of communities,” the group said.

Kabataan Partylist said a supplementary budget of P 2.1 billion has been filed in the House of Representatives to procure face masks and facilitate the repatriation of Filipinos in China. The filing of a supplementary budget is a testament to how unprepared the Duterte administration is towards health emergencies, symptomatic of its skewed priorities towards Build Build Build and militarization rather than social services which have been neglected for years, they said.

Kabataan Partylist challenged the government to prioritize the health of the Filipino people over any “special relations” with China, or any other countries. “The administration should come up with a comprehensive public health system that is free and accessible to all, to present a proactive plan to provide access to clean water, proper nutrition, and proper services and utilities,” they said.

Further, Kabataan Partylist strongly condemned all forms of budget cuts for basic social services—especially health and education.

“Instead of having intelligence and war funds ballooning, we call to rechannel the funds to improve our health system – and not to aggravate the situation by further deploying military forces all over the country,” they said.

“It is in this sense that the representation also slams any further state militarization posing as primary front liners in handling Emerging Infectious Diseases. What we need in times of public health emergencies is to fund the public healthcare system and to mobilize the health workers and practitioners. The Filipino people need more doctors, nurses, and healthcare facilities – not a military task force,” they likewise said./STACY ANG