One shining moment for Herbosa came in the third quarter of 2020 when he pointed out to the television audience that more COVID-19 patients were recovering
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. recently announced he lifted the nation’s state of emergency regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
That means the pandemic is now manageable by the State.
Because there may still be some sporadic instances of the health menace anywhere in the country, the President retained the contingency measures on the distribution of the corona virus vaccines remaining in the country.
The announcement is welcome news, indeed.
I believe that nobody of sound mind and body today will forget the dangerous, uncertain and pessimistic months beginning in March 2020, when the entire world stood still, at a time when the anti-COVID-19 vaccines were still in the experimental laboratories of international pharmaceutical companies.
Food supplies were rationed, transportation was restricted, and many industries were forced to temporarily shut down.
A countless many lost their jobs due to the closure, in part or in full, of many businesses. Schools had to make do with substitute online classes.
Everybody was urged to stay home.
By dusk, streets everywhere were desolate.
It seemed like everyone had to be indoors for fear of a vampire roaming at nightfall.
It was the good fortune of the nation we had President Rodrigo Duterte leading the country during those dreadful times.
A no-nonsense president, Duterte enforced strict measures to contain the spread of the virus, and ordered the restructuring of health facilities and the optimum deployment of health workers.
With no historical precedent to guide him, and the entire world deeply in crisis, President Duterte had to use his practical wisdom and even his gut-feel to keep the Filipino people safe and the country intact.
Inevitably, the measures he took were very strict, due to the extra-ordinarily dangerous times.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a period comparable somehow to the difficult, harsh times of World War II in the Philippines, with the only difference that unlike during the war when the enemy was obvious, the corona virus villain is invisible.
Only the communists and their allies in the Liberal Party had the audacity to criticize President Duterte’s measures to address the COVID-19 menace.
In the end, President Duterte’s strong leadership and long-range planning saved countless Filipinos from the virus which, for almost two years, had no reliable and safe vaccine against it.
He also proved the communists and the Liberal Party were wrong.
During those dreadful times, television kept the Filipino people updated on the news concerning COVID-19.
While the local and world news on COVID-19 was very bleak for the last nine months of 2020, regular television news updates kept the people from panicking.
One person really stood out in those television announcements: Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, the former Health Undersecretary of a previous dispensation who was designated by the Duterte administration to form part of a team to manage and address concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Herbosa always told the television audience the truth about the pandemic, particularly the constant, rising number of daily deaths brought about by the virus, he made repeated assurances to the television audience the situation was not hopeless.
For instance, Herbosa pointed out early in the pandemic that there have been a number of COVID-19 cases where the patient eventually recovered despite the odds.
Herbosa stressed that although the number of those who recoverd from the corona virus remained low, the situation was far from being hopeless.
Herbosa also pointed out to the television audience that like any fast-spreading deadly disease, a plateau in the death statistics will eventually take place, and the discouraging statistical trend is bound to gradually decrease.
According to Herbosa, Filipinos who have not been afflicted by COVID-19 will just have to avoid contracting the virus by staying safe at home, by avoiding needless trips outdoors, and by religiously following safety protocols such as hand-washing, the wearing of face-masks, and the observance of social distancing.
Herbosa likewise repeatedly assured the television audience the scientific community was rushing to develop an anti-COVID-19 vaccine, or at least one that could deter the chances of a healthy person contracting the corona virus.
One shining moment for Herbosa came in the third quarter of 2020 when he pointed out to the television audience that more COVID-19 patients were recovering.
That reassuring news kept the hopes of many Filipinos intact, long enough until the time the vaccines came.
In short, while President Duterte saved the Filipinos from the physical effects of COVID-19, Herbosa was the government official who almost single-handedly saved the sanity of the people.
The recent appointment of Herbosa as the Health Secretary is welcome news to everyone aware of Herbosa’s valiant role in fighting the COVID-19 menace, and his competence as a physician and as a health official.
I trust that for the foregoing reasons, the Commission on Appointments will confirm him as health secretary.
