UPDATE: On April 24, Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte extended the duration of the Extended Community Quarantine to May 15, covering areas worst hit by the Covid-19 coronavirus including the National Capitol Region, provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
MANILA (UCAN): The Philippines’ The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) scrambled to clarify remarks made by the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, on April 14 when he said he would likely lift the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) lockdown across Luzon, the country’s most populous island, only when a vaccine is discovered and made readily available to Filipinos.
“If the antibody is already there, available in the market and being sold in quantity … then I am inclined to maybe lift the lockdown,” Duterte said on national television, despite the fact that medical experts can only speculate as to how soon a vaccine will become available—some say a year at least.
The IATF suggested on April 15 that certain areas would remain “locked” beyond April 30 if present community quarantines are unsuccessful.
“Again, I am reminding our fellow Filipinos not to waste our efforts and our little achievements in the past weeks. Let us remain in our homes so that the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) may be lifted in certain areas after April 30,” IATF chief, Carlito Galvez Jr., said.
He said a study had been submitted to the president by experts from the University of the Philippines suggesting a modified community quarantine to flatten the curve of the virus. It noted that the effectiveness of present quarantine’s was reducing the virus’s transmission rate, leading to fewer deaths.
Galvez also claimed that the country’s police force is ready for stricter and selective implementation of quarantine rules should Duterte approve the recommendation.
This was confirmed by police chief, Archie Gamboa, who said on April 15 that the police were expecting “a longer operation in law enforcement and public safety functions beyond April 30 for a possible selective quarantine in some areas.” He added that almost 700 individuals had been arrested for violating quarantine rules.
Urban poor families pointed out that staying at home is easier said than done.
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“We are a family of six in a small house. It is already summer and we do not have any source of income. We cannot just stay here inside our house,” said one Manila resident, April Casino.
“We are now only eating twice a day to make sure we have enough food until the lockdown is over. Thanks to Church groups, at least we are given more food.”
Meanwhile, the alumni of Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle, the country’s two biggest Catholic universities, have raised over 10 million pesos ($1.5 million)) worth of food packs and relief goods as Church aid for urban poor families in Manila.
The Jesuits and the De La Salle Brothers called on alumni to support joint feeding programmes and relief operations from their respective alma maters. The two universities are fierce rivals in the country’s college basketball league but have joined together to help the poor.
“I’m very proud of our alumni who can transcend the rivalry and come together. If this were music, we’re not really rivals, we’re a counterpoint to each other. When counterpoints come together in harmony, you create music,” Brother Armin Luistro, a De La Salle religious, said.
Meanwhile, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos and co-chairperson of Church People-Workers Solidarity, urged the government to immediately provide cash aid for workers and relief goods for the poor. In a statement, he called for more efficient and quicker distribution of government aid to help labourers and employees who have no salary during the pandemic.
“We strongly urge that the Department of Labour and Employment immediately give financial assistance to all affected workers whether from small, medium and large enterprises,” the bishops said,
As of April 22, the Philippines had recorded 6,599 Covid-19 cases with 437 deaths, according to government figures. Philstar reported on April 20 that recoveries had reached 613, while 207 cases had been reported in the Visayas and 157 in Mindanao.
