By Mela Lesmoras
Malacañang said now is the time to focus on COVID-19 and be united to achieve population protection, following Vice President Leni Robredo’s Ulat sa Bayan where she highlighted pandemic programs and called for cooperation.
“Ang totoo, hindi itinatanong ng pandemya kung sa aling grupo tayo nabibilang, o sa kung aling Partido tayo may membership card… Puwede tayong patuloy na maipit sa hidwaan, o puwede tayong makinig at magbukas ng puso sa isa’t-isa. Puwede tayong magkaisa,” Robredo said in her speech on July 27.
In a statement today (July 28), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque agreed with Robredo’s call, saying the Palace recognizes the COVID-19 measures initiated by the Vice President.
“We welcome the initiatives of the Vice President in the fight against COVID-19 which she enumerated in her Ulat sa Bayan, and we are in no way diminishing her efforts in this trying time,” Roque said.
PRRD address
President Rodrigo Duterte is set to deliver his weekly Talk to the People on COVID-19 tonight, together with some Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) members. One of the main topics of the meeting is the new set of quarantine classifications to be imposed by August.
The independent OCTA Research Group proposed a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and the prevailing Delta variant threat.
“Pinag-aaralan po iyan ng eksperto ng gobyerno… Sa ngayon po, hindi pa po natin iniri-recommend ang ECQ [enhanced community quarantine] dahil nga po ang ating ninanais [ay] total health,” Roque said in his July 27 briefing.
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said the private sector supports this idea for public safety.
“No ASEAN countries have reversed the surge without locking down major cities. The longer we wait, the harder we can reverse the surge,” he said in a statement.
Several senators said localized lockdowns “may be necessary,” but noted that “the challenge is to balance both the health and economic crisis.” -AG- jlo
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