Information is king

With the humungous budget of the administration's communications office, you would expect the dissemination of information to the public to go as smooth as glass. Instead, it is akin to driving on an unpaved road in the ‘50s. We have had so many missteps from the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) from wrong news to fake news, to absolutely hilarious mistakes easily corrected by a spell check or by a dutiful search on Google. It would be much appreciated if these government agencies would also utilize the communications office to give out the right information to the public, instead of having to explain statements that have already been put out there.

Lately, we have that "flattening" then the "bent" explanation by health secretary Francisco Duque who is supposed to be on top of the pandemic crisis. Instead, it turns out he isn't well informed of the situation. But hey, he has the trust of the president which is all that matters nowadays. If you get his ire, you're dead. How can a curve be flattened by the rising number of COVID-19 cases especially after Metro Manila was placed under General Community Quarantine? At present, the count is 65,304. If I'm not mistaken, we were only at the 20,000 level by the end of May. I'd call that a spike any day of the week and twice on Sundays. And the administration still insists they have everything under control.

Then we have that ridiculous house-to-house search announcement made by DILG Sec. Año of positive COVID-19 cases. He planned to have the police search house-to-house and if they determine it to be inadequate for self-quarantine, they bring the patient to a government quarantine facility. That immediately drew angry, dissenting reactions from practically everyone, including the secretary of justice who said the Department of Justice was neither consulted nor informed. Barangay health workers should be the ones determining if a place is adequate or not, not the police.

Año has since called the report as fake news and "part of the disinformation campaign by unscrupulous individuals,” even if several news outlets carried the story with the Palace even reacting to it. The police would only assist, he says. Even tasking firemen to help. It doesn't help his case when PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa likened the DILG move to “like locating a criminal, and when you have located one, you have to find his or her accomplices”. Pretty much makes it clear how the authorities see COVID-19 patients.

Information is king at times like this. The public must be well informed of the situation to take the necessary actions and precautions. Fake news has no place. I would even label fake news as criminal. The communications office should tie all information in and make sure everything is accurate before dissemination to the public. Everyone is scared enough of this virus not to want policemen knocking at their doors.