Gordon on Duque: “I think he was misled by the statement”
Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon blamed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III over the “mukhang pera” statement of President Rodrigo Duterte.
This was after PRC was criticized by the president for stopping COVID-19 tests due to the government’s P1.1 billion debt.
But Gordon claimed in a statement that the organization is not greedy for money.
And earlier he blamed Duque over the “mukhang pera” remark of Duterte.
“I think he was misled by the statement. Because the way the predicate was laid by Sec. Duque was wrong. Sabi niya, nagtest na ulit noong binayaran,” he said.
“Nabayaran na po ang PRC at nagbukas na po silang muli kaya patuloy na po ang kanilang pagsusuri ng mga swab specimen,” he added.
In mid-October, the Philippine Red Cross suspended the COVID-19 testing of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) due to the unpaid debt of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as much as P1 billion with the organization.
However, Gordon stressed that “we never stopped testing. We started testing in October. And in fact binabaan na namin yung hinihinging presyo ng PhilHealth. That’s why we tried very hard to bring the price down.”
PRC has been conducting COVID-19 tests, reaching around 10,000 per day.
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