‘DI LANG CHANGE OIL, IATF PALITAN NG DRIVER – RECTO (Dahil sa pagdami ng kaso ng COVID-19)

MAYNILA – Maging si Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto ay naniniwala na oras na para “palawakin” ang membership ng Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases at maglagay ng panibagong tao sa driver’s seat.

 “Hindi lang change oil, change engine and driver na rin,” ani ni Recto.

 “COVID is fast and furious while the vaccine rollout is slow and sputtering. These are signs of a government’s pandemic machinery in trouble and a nation in danger,”giit niya.

Ilan din sa kanyang mga kasamahan ang nanawagan na buwagin o palitan ang IATF sa gitna ng pagtaas ng kaso ng COVID-19 bansa.

Subalit mabilis na ibinasura ng Malacañang ang panawagan.

Binigyang diin ni Recto ang kahalagahan ng pagbuo ng mas ‘maayos’ na makina lalo na kung ang problema ay lalo pang lumalala pagkatapos ng isang taon.

“It is time to expand the membership of IATF, to include those in private business with superb managerial skills, such as those who have been running companies with a million moving parts with efficiency and precision,” saad niya.

Paliwanag niya na sa ilalim ng Executive Order No. 168 na nagbubuo sa task force, ang liderato nito ay dapat ‘all-government’ affair na pinamumunuan ng Secretary of Health at iba pang pinuno ng mga mga ahensiya ng gobyerno.

 “Secretaries Duque and Galvez can remain within the IATF, but with new roles,” sabi ni Recto patungkol kina Health Secretary Francisco Duque, chairman ng IATF at vaccine czar Carlito Galvez.

“The two could be one of the pistons of a new, smarter engine that will have more cylinders, but no longer its ECU, its computer brain,” ayon sa kanya.

“Having reinforced the IATF, it is time to put a new man [in] the driver’s seat. But even the best car, more so the one that will bring us out of this crisis, cannot run on autopilot,” dagdag pa ni Recto.