Drilon: DOH may have been underreporting Ph COVID-19 cases

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday said the Department of Health (DOH) may have been underreporting the country’s COVID-19 cases all along.

Drilon expressed his fear as he questioned the DOH for disaggregating cases in its reporting.

"What is the basis for disaggregating cases and how does that affect our interpretation of flattening of the curve? Has the inter-agency task force (IATF) considered these figures in its decision to shift to general community quarantine GCQ (General Community Quarantine)?" Drilon asked.

Drilon said there are complaints not only from the public but also from laboratories regarding the new classification of cases as either "fresh" or "late." 

“Magpakatotoo tayo rito," he told DOH.

Drilon also said it is becoming a habit of the DOH to use hospitals and laboratories as scapegoats whenever it is criticized for its shortcomings.

"They are being thrown under the bus. The DOH claims that the laboratories report to them late, but I have received reports that their turnaround time is actually good," he said.

"Where is the bottleneck in the reporting of cases that results in 'late' cases? Is it really the laboratories reporting late or DOH unable to validate the cases in a timely manner?”

Drilon pointed out that the experience of other countries show that transparency spells a huge difference in winning the battle against this pandemic. 

"South Korea has shown transparency since day one. They did not hide the real data from their people. They dealt with the pandemic with complete transparency and because of this, coupled with the government's decisiveness, they are able to contain the virus," Drilon said.