‘Hear frontline stories without filter,’ consider appeal for lockdown

Senators to Duterte: MANILA – Senators urged President Rodrigo Duterte to heed the plea of overwhelmed medical frontliners to once again place Metro Manila and nearby provinces under lockdown given the surge of coronavirus cases in the country. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said yesterday the Philippine government has “no choice but to follow” this recommendation – and it must do so while ensuring there are safety nets for Filipinos whose jobs are likely to be affected by another lockdown. “Mr. President, please make time to personally listen to the physicians. Hear their frontline stories firsthand and without filter. It is time for you to set an appointment with the doctors. When the number of cases hits 100,000 today, it will sound an emergency alarm that can only be turned off by ringing the timeout bell,” Recto said in a statement. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the country is expected to hit 100,000 yesterday after the country already tallied 98,232 cases on August 1. The unprecedent spike prompted the Philippine medical community to ask Duterte to place the capital and its nearby areas under enhanced community quarantine for another two weeks to quell the number of Covid-19 cases. The President already ordered the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases to consider this urgent plea. In a separate statement, Senator Richard Gordon said the IATF should closely study the proposal of the frontliners, most of whom have been rendering backbreaking hours just to save lives of Filipinos infected with Covid-19. The once-ruling Liberal Party (LP) likewise issued a similar statement, hoping the Duterte government would “empathize” with the plight of frontliners. Party president, Senator Francis Pangilinan, said in an interview on DZRH yesterday morning that there should be a “middle ground” between managing the health care system and the economy. Pangilinan also zeroed in on government’s lack of a cohesive direction and public messaging in its pandemic response, ultimately renewing his call for the resignation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for “failure of leadership.”