When uncertainty has been the only constant for nearly two and a half years of the pandemic, Covid-19 response is indeed among the first and foremost challenges of the new administration. Cases of infection have generally gone down globally, but upticks persist with threats of new variants, subvariants and other viruses are at bay.
In his inaugural speech today, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. did not lay out details of how his administration would tackle the pandemic, but he pointed out that there were flaws in the Duterte administration’s Covid-19 response. He promised to fix them.
“There were shortcomings in the Covid response. We will fix them. Out in the open, no more secrets in public health,” he said without giving specifics.
Like his take on education in the same speech, Marcos cited longstanding issues such as access to free public health.
“We won’t be caught unprepared, underequipped, and understaffed to fight the next pandemic. To start with, we never got over the pandemic of poor, if any, free public health.”
One thing is for sure, however. Unlike the Duterte administration which resorted to prolonged lockdowns and Duterte himself intimidating the public for not getting vaccinated, Marcos Jr. cannot afford to do the same if he wants people, especially the poor and marginalized, to recover from the multiple and layered impacts of the pandemic and in turn improve confidence in the economy.
Showing Filipinos that they do not need to choose between their jobs and their health is imperative, said economist Ronald Mendoza.
“One of the things we should build towards is [putting] health and the economy together. The countries that did this as twin goals are the most successful. They don’t lock down because lockdown is a signal of failure. They don’t fail on search-control because you are buying your economy and your health system time to manage it better. That was the balance we really needed,” he told PCIJ in a January 2022 interview.
Appointing a new leader to take the helm of the health department is also key, he said. As of this writing, Marcos has yet to name a Department of Health chief. Six of the 29 core cabinet positions have yet to be designated.
Mendoza is the dean of the Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Government and a member of the Covid-19 Academic Crisis Response Consortium. (Explore PCIJ’s data on Bongbong Marcos’ appointees so far, their previously held positions and educational background.)
As of June 30, 2022, more than 3.7 million Filipinos were infected of Covid-19. More than 60,540 died, health data show.
Roughly 77% of the country’s eligible population have been fully vaccinated, as of May 2022. The National Capital Region and neighboring Calabarzon and Central Luzon, regions all in Luzon Island, continue to get a bigger share of the vaccine supply. END