‘PHILIPPINES NEEDS TO REOPEN’
Duterte in quandary over keeping lockdown amid high unemployment rate
THE Philippines needs to reopen the economy and speed up vaccination efforts, said President Rodrigo Duterte as the country records the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since September at 3,749 on Thursday.
Duterte admitted he was in a “quandary” on what to do currently as the nationwide active cases stood at 47,769, according to the Inquirer.net portal.
“I have to reopen the economy. I’ve given a timetable of just weeks. We cannot forever be in the strict protocols because we have to open the economy. People are hungry, people have to work, to eat, to survive,” he said.
“I don’t know what to do, but I said we must open the economy in a short while. That’s why the vaccination is being expedited,” he said during the inauguration of the Port Operations Building in Dumaguete City.
“When I see that millions have been vaccinated, especially in towns and big cities, it’s okay. But until now, I am in a quandary of what to do,” he added.
Up to Wednesday, the country had inoculated around 114,500 individuals against Covid-19.
Last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that some 4.5 million Filipinos became unemployed because of the pandemic.
In January alone, four million Filipinos were jobless as the nation’s unemployment rate reached a 16-year high.
Earlier this month, Duterte had rejected proposals to place the whole country in a less stringent quarantine classification, known as the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
But he said he was reconsidering placing Metro Manila under MGCQ after the arrival of the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines in the country last week.