Lack of context in government testing policy

THE PUBLIC clamor for mass testing began as early as March 2020 when the World Health Organization (WHO) advised all countries to “test, test, test” in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. But government just couldn’t muster the resources nor the capacity to implement the strategy. Proceeding in fits and starts, testing did not seem to make that much of a difference in the transmission of the virus.

In May, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque  said that government could not conduct mass testing: “In an ideal world, dapat lahat ng tao, ma-test. Pero ang RT-PCR testing laboratories natin ay 30 pa lang. Eh dapat, di bababa sa 90. Nagkakaubusan rin ng rapid test kit.”

At the time, government seemed intent in dismissing testing as a necessary strategy in the fight against COVID-19. The media tracked the exchange of government claims and the reactions of experts—a frustrating exercise because one side, the government, seemed stuck in the position that it could not be expected to do more.

Almost a year and deep into the pandemic, the president on December 7 struck a new note during his weekly televised address last December 7, emphasizing the importance of accessible and affordable testing, “…What’s really important, and I realize (it) now, it’s the testing.” He then told the DOH secretary to study how much it would cost to implement a free mass testing program for all citizens.

Netizens criticized the president’s delayed realization and policy action. But government seemed intent to gloss over the president’s crucial admission. Despite evidence to the contrary,  the Palace maintained that testing has always been a regime priority. Harry Roque even touted the country’s testing capacity, which he now claims is the best in Asia.

Much of the media found it easier to follow Roque’s lead, not wanting to blame the president’s lack of understanding for the failure of government to implement earlier what has proven helpful in so many countries. News about the delayed action barely made it to the front pages or to the primetime newscasts, leaving the critical discussion to social media.

Notably, however, the news organizations that did report on the issue noted the  government’s lack of appreciation for the measure, recalling earlier calls for mass testing, among them a petition rejected by the Supreme Court.

CMFR monitored reports from the three major Manila broadsheets (Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star); four primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, CNN Philippines’ News Night, GMA-7’s 24 Oras and TV5’s Frontline Pilipinas); as well as selected news websites from December 7 to December 14, 2020.

Underreported

Themedia have always quoted anything that the president has to say, including his controversial quips and profanities. But the president’s belated appreciation of the importance of mass testing hardly received the attention and analysis it deserved.

The primetime newscasts reported Duterte’s order to prepare for mass testing among other updates from his December 7 address without reference to the administration’s previous statements on the issue.

Print similarly framed the issue by reporting it as just another presidential order—quoting other officials, including Roque and Duque,  to supplement the chief executive’s statement.

Online media outdid both print and broadcast by looking back on the administration’s hesitancy in conducting mass testing. But the discussion did not point out what the delay in government’s implementation of mass testing cost.

Notably, the Inquirer.net and the Manila Bulletin’s online counterpart, mb.com.ph, cited Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp who recalled that Robredo was among the first to advocate  community testing. The Inquirer noted that her suggestion was criticized by officials who said that the government “does not have the capacity” to do mass testing. Her camp clarified that they were only referring to accessible “targeted testing” and not testing of the entire population.

In an effort to belittle the significance of the president’s admission, government began citing statistics to boost the claim that COVID-19 policy had always included testing, recalling his earlier proclamation in September that the country has the “best testing policy in the whole of Asia and probably in the whole world.” 

CMFR noted online reports that stood out for debunking Roque’s claim that the country has the “highest testing capacity in Asia,” contextualizing the figures. An exceptional report from Philstar.com pointed out that most tests were conducted by the private sector. Citing DOH data, Philstar.com also revealed that more than half of the five million government testing policy is still criticized because of its slow ramp up of actual tests conducted despite the supposedly high testing capacity.

Another notable report from online news site Interaksyon cited ABS-CBN’s data analyst Edson Guido who traced the decline of testing in recent months. Guido also questioned why testing had “peaked” in September but dipped again in the following months as more labs were set up. Guido also asked why the government did not announce a new target if it was going to adopt free and universal testing, recalling that government had already reached its initial goal in July.

Context and explanation

CMFR noted that earlier coverage had captured the administration’s lack of knowledge on,  and understanding of the issue.

Earlier in May, Roque rejected the calls for mass testing, and said that they would leave such efforts to the private sector. The Palace argued that no country can test all its citizens–a claim for which it was ridiculed, with critics pointing out that mass testing never meant testing the entire population, only those who were being monitored.

In the following month, Roque made another contentious remark on the subject that drew flak from all quarters, including some health officials themselves. The presidential spokesman who claimed that “nalampasan po natin ang ating target [tests per day],” was corrected by Health Undersecretary Maria Vergeire who explained that the Philippines had reached only its “estimated maximum capacity,” and not the target for actual tests.

In July, Health Secretary Duque, speaking as chief of the lead anti-COVID-19 implementing agency, rejected calls for free, mandatory mass testing nationwide.  Even then, the president had asked if the country has “the capacity to do the testing for every citizen.” Obviously, government’s failure to do effective testing of any kind and its consequences on public health must be laid at the door of the DOH.

Contextualization would have explained so much of what has happened and its connection to the president’s order on testing. But it seemed lost to most journalists whose reporting remained fixed on episodes and incidents as these happened, presented to the public as though these were unconnected developments.

When journalists fail to link separate incidents into a narrative, they mask the government’s lack of understanding of the challenges confronting the nation. Its poor grasp of the importance of testing from the very beginning, despite WHO’s prompting and the examples of other neighboring countries, helps explain the failure of the Duterte administration to address the pandemic in a timely and strategic manner.