Gloria Arroyo defends Duterte against critics amid COVID-19 crisis

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday defended President Rodrigo Duterte against his critics amid the alleged inefficiency of the government in handling the COVID-19 crisis.

In a post on her Facebook page, Arroyo likened Duterte's critics to "a Monday morning quarterback," or someone who makes criticisms after the event has passed.

"It is easy for them to be a Monday morning quarterback because they are not the ones in charge," said Arroyo.

Arroyo, who also served as House Speaker from July 2018 to June 2019 after Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez was ousted from the position, is a known supporter of Duterte.

Upon her election to the speakership, she had vowed to support the legislative agenda of the incumbent President.

The Duterte administration has faced backlash for supposedly mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis — from the lack of mass testing and sufficient contact tracing to prioritizing "draconian" measures such as the Anti-Terrorism Law even as the country is faced with a health crisis.

The President drew flak anew after critics claimed he presented no concrete masterplan to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic during his fifth Station of the Nation Address and instead renewed his call to Congress to revive death penalty for drug-related offenses.

At a briefing with Cabinet officials in Malacañang on Thursday, Duterte justified his decision not to give specific details about the roadmap in his SONA.

"Sabihin ninyo wala kaming roadmap. Duterte where is your roadmap? Hindi nga kami maka-roadmap because we were talking about the budget," Duterte said in his address aired on state-run PTV.

"I could not have uttered a single sentence about roadmap to recovery kasi ang una talaga diyan ang medicine," he added.

Duterte on Sunday ordered to revert Metro Manila and surrounding provinces to modified enhanced community quarantine in response to the call of the medical community as health workers are already exhausted due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases being brought to hospitals.

As of August 3, a total of 106,330 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Philippines, with 2,104 deaths and 65,821 recoveries. 

By ERWIN COLCOL, GMA News

Source: Peso Economics