Risa: Comprehensive plan needed for fight vs virus

SENATOR Risa Hontiveros has pushed for clarity on the implementation of protocols in relation to the implementation of the community quarantine in Metro Manila.

“I urge the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging

Infectious Diseases to immediately release specific guidelines and parameters of the community quarantine being imposed in Metro Manila, especially its effects on the daily lives of Filipinos and of those who work within the metro but reside elsewhere,” Hontiveros ssaid.

She urged public health and local government authorities to “be at the helm of this community quarantine, subject to proper parameters and regular review, in order to guide and assure the worried public.”

“At the same time, we must not forget those who are most vulnerable and who have the least among us: the daily wage-earning poor and the loss of jobs that is already following in the wake of this pandemic,” she added.

She also called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development and our local government units to ensure sufficient food supply through local food banks, “dapat may pagkain sa bawat hapag-kainan. Likewise, I am urging the Department of Labor and Employment to facilitate immediate cashflow to families who will lose their livelihood in the same light due to Covid-19.”

“This pandemic is a test of our humanity and institutions. Getting our act together means life or death to many Filipinos. A difficult path to recovery lies ahead. But I have faith in the strength of our people; that as one nation we will overcome, as we Filipinos always have,” she added.