Duterte not inclined to ease lockdown
Ex-IATF adviser: People are looking for plan against COVID-19
Concerned about the health of the nation, President Duterte is not yet inclined to open the local economy to pre-coronavirus pandemic level.
As the country’s cases of coronavirus surged past the 80,000 mark, the President said he was not ready to gamble with the lives and health of the people.
“To open up the economy to preCOVID-19 levels at this time is not an option because whatever good it can produce will only be gobbled up, or be outweighed, by the bad it will generate,” Duterte said in his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.
“Sometimes, haste does make waste. The recent upsurge of infections when we opened little windows to the resumption of business is proof of that,” he added.
Duterte noted that some countries have opened their economies “too early, too soon” and suffered more infections. He admitted that no country was really prepared for the pandemic, which has infected 16.2 million people and left more than 600,000 people dead based on the global tracking by John Hopkins University.
“We are not ready and therefore we will not gamble with the lives and health of the people. Certainly, no one would want to end up on the negative side of the equation. Not me, not us,” Duterte said.
As the pandemic has weakened the economy, Duterte admitted that “worse times” loom ahead but appealed for solidarity and unity to overcome the latest health emergency.
He asked the public to trust the government and cooperate with the health measures to limit the spread of the disease. He said the government cannot fight the pandemic without the help of Filipinos.
“More than ever, we need to reinvigorate the deep-seated Filipino spirit of pakisama and malasakit within each and every one of us,” he said.
“We are being tested, as a people and as a nation. Worse times loom ahead. But I do hope that this spirit of solidarity and unity will serve as the drumbeat to which we shall march in unison in our quest for the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Duterte said his faith in Filipinos’ innate patience, resilience, and determination to bounce back is unwavering. He also urged people to share their blessings with those who have little and those who have none.
“This is the time to bring out the best in us,” he said.
“The woes that weigh heavily upon our shoulders may bend our back, but they shall not bend or break our spirit,” he said.
The government has gradually eased the lockdown measures in a bid to revive the economy and restore livelihood of the people.
The strict coronavirus lockdown implemented back in mid-March has already weakened the local economy, forced some companies to close shop, and displaced many workers.
Where’s the plan?
As this developed, Dr. Tony Leachon, a former special adviser of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the government’s task force should present concrete plans to gain more cooperation from the citizenry, particularly in the National Capital Region where COVID19 cases continue to rise.
“People are asking for a plan. People are asking for a roadmap which at this point in time hindi nila nakikita (is not visible). Parang wala silang nakikitang light at the end of the tunnel kasi everyday nila nakikita na instead na nagiimprove ang numbers, hindi siya nag-iimprove (It seems the people do not seen the light at the end of the tunnel as what they see instead is the increasing number and no improvement at all),” said Leachon, who said the government should be concerned about a supposed “quarantine and information fatigue” being experienced by most Filipinos.
Leachon said there are still enough reasons and time to apply to the National Capital Region the successful program the government applied in Cebu City, once considered as the country’s virus hotbed which, from being under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), is now under Modified ECQ (MECQ).
“Napapagod na yung tao in terms kung sino yung papaniwalaan. Ang feeling ko nagkaroon na ng quarantine fatigue, nagkaroon din ng information fatigue na hindi narerealize (The people are already tired, in terms of who to believe in. I feel there’s already quarantine fatigue and information fatigue which they do not realize). People are asking for results,” said Leachon in a Zoom interview with the Manila Bulletin.
Leachon praised the program being implemented in the queen city of the south particularly the appointment of Environment secretary Roy Cimatu as Cebu COVID-19 response overseer and Baguio City mayor Benjamin Magalong as chief contact tracer. “We have a template in Cebu ngayon.
They used the prevention side, nag-ECQ sila tapos nagprovide sila ng mask, nag-social distancing.
Gumamit pa nga ng APC dun eh para lang matakot yung mga tao dun (they had ECQ, they provided masks, ordered social distancing, and they used APC to strike fear among the people). It worked in Cebu so I’m sure it will work in Manila,” said Leachon.