COVID-19

‘Big brother, big sister’ Cabinet secretaries won’t take over mayors’ pandemic efforts – Malacañang

Pia Ranada

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‘Big brother, big sister’ Cabinet secretaries won’t take over mayors’ pandemic efforts – Malacañang

Chief Implementer of the Philippines’ Declared National Policy Against COVID-19 and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr. and Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año join the meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members presided by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on August 2, 2020. KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

toto lozano

'You can expect the Cabinet members to push for the interest of their respective cities and one municipality in Metro Manila,' says Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque

Malacañang clarified on Thursday, August 13, that the Cabinet members that were newly-assigned to Metro Manila cities and Luzon provinces won’t have powers over their mayors and governors, and are just there to “help.”

Wala naman po, dahil wala naman pong mandato ang mga gabinete na susuporta lang sa mga local government units,” said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque in response to questions during a virtual press briefing.

(No [powers] because the Cabinet members have no mandate and they will just support the local government units.)

The assignments were announced on Wednesday and involve a total of 21 local governments.

Any takeover would require the intervention of President Rodrigo Duterte himself, who, as chief executive, has supervisory powers over mayors and governors.

Roque called the deputized Cabinet members the “big brothers” and “big sisters” of their assigned cities and provinces, terms he said were used by coronavirus action plan Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr.

“The big brothers and big sisters that Secretary Galvez mentioned, we will just support the local governments. Sila pa rin mamumuno sa kani-kanilang siyudad at munisipyo (They will still govern their cities and towns),” said the Duterte spokesman.

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With the way Roque has explained it, the Cabinet secretaries won’t have the same powers given to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu over Cebu City. Cimatu flew to the Visayas city after a spike in cases, held meetings with local government units, and deployed military and police to enforce quarantine rules.

Cimatu even placed barangays on lockdown, a power that typically rests on local chiefs.

What kind of support?

Asked to be more specific about the ways in which the Cabinet members will assist local governments, Roque could not speak for all Cabinet members but said he himself would nudge national government agencies to help his city, Pasay, with the challenges they face.

“The first thing I will do is rap on the Department of Health so that our PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing facilities can open in the city of Pasay. Second, I will check if the isolation facilities are enough and if anything else is needed from the DOH,” said Roque.

“I will see to it that Pasay gets what it needs from the national government,” he added.

He then gave a clue as to how the Cabinet secretaries were assigned to specific cities and provinces, saying a “majority” of them are “locals” of the areas they are now tasked to assist.

“You can expect the Cabinet members to push for the interest of their respective cities and one municipality in Metro Manila,” said Roque. – Rappler.com

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Pia Ranada

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact.