Proposal

Philippine Government Response against Covid19

While some of the neighboring countries like Taiwan and Vietnam promptly took beforehand an
initiative with respect to travel restrictions as preventive measure against the spread of Covid19,
the Philippines, on the other hand, fall short and late to impose the same measure. The
Philippines imposed travel ban only against air passengers coming from Wuhan, China, and that
commenced only after the Philippines has first recorded its first confirmed case. This is due to
the fact of the unwillingness of the Philippine Government to strain the so called “strong
friendship and relation” of the Philippines and China. Having said these, The Philippines
government failed to keep up with its constitutional mandate under Article II Section 7 of the
1987 Constitution which states that “The state shall Pursue an independent foreign policy. In its
relation with other states, the paramount consideration shall be national Sovereignty, territorial
integrity, national interest and the right to self-determination.”

Moreover, the Philippine Government is inefficient on its step in containing the spread of
COVID19 as the same went on early distribution of emergency cash subsidy meant for indigent
families who appear to be the most affected by COVID 19 pandemic and other restrictions as
precautionary measure, without proper and good validation system of those qualified
beneficiaries. With this, this opens the floodgates of corruptions as the corrupt officials were
given opportunities to take advantage the cash distribution. Thus, there were complaints and
allegations of misuse of funds meant for qualified beneficiaries.

Furthermore, the Philippine Government is, likewise, inefficient in the sense that the public
funds were allocated in boosting the tourism industry in the midst of COVID19 pandemic as an
example , Manila bay white sand, while some, if not all hospitals reportedly lack personal
protective equipment (PPE), isolation facilities and equipments. While the World Health
Organization (WHO), has declared and encouraged countries the use of testing kits and
employment of mass testing as requirements in response to the spread of COVID19 Pandemic,
the Philippine Government, instead insufficiently allocated funds lower than what is necessary
for the procurement of the same.

On the other hand, the Philippine government is effective in containing the spread of Covid19 as
the same, has successfully educated the people about the importance of frequent sanitation and
use of facemask with face shield, physical distancing through the use of social media and other
platforms to inform the population. The government is, likewise, effective when it imposed
enhanced community quarantine across the country, in this way, it helps to slow if not to stop the
sudden and abrupt spread of COVID19.