Senators are pushing for localized lockdown amid the rising number of recorded COVID-19 cases per day in the country.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the localized lockdown “can work without sacrificing the areas that are open for near normalcy already.”
Senator Franklin Drilon also claimed the “shotgun approach” has done little in containing the virus. “If anything, the strategy only crippled our economy and left thousands of Filipinos jobless. Hence, we need a more rational approach and one that will not cause too much damage to our already bleeding economy.”
Senator Francis Pangilinan pointed out that mass testing, contact tracing, and isolation and treatment should have been prioritized since the start “rather than repeating the ineffective and simplistic restriction of movement of citizens in the local level which has proven to have failed to manage the spread.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson urged the DOH to be accurate on the data it presents. “The mere fact na tumataas ang kaso ng nagpa-positive, mukhang may pagkukulang ng malaki ang DOH. Unang-una nang nauna ligaw tayo sa kanilang pinapalabas na datos (The mere fact that the number of cases are increasing, seems to show that the DOH has shortcomings. We were initially confused by the data it released).”
Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos suggested that government should sell the country’s toxic or non-performing assets and convert them into cash to be used as aid during the pandemic. – Report from Eunice Samonte
