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 on Sunday, August 2, 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 on Sunday after the country already tallied 98,232 cases on Saturday, 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. 

“It will be very difficult to open the economy without adequately addressing health concerns. Again we need to improve our ability to protect our health care providers, test, trace, isolate and treat. Failing to do so, will impact our ability to get back to work,” Recto told Rappler in a text message.

In a separate statement, Senator Richard Gordon said the IATF should closely study the proposal of the frontliners, most of whom have been rendering back-breaking hours just to save lives of Filipinos infected with COVID-19. 

“Dapat pag-aralan lahat ‘yung mga suggestion nila – some are very meritorious – na dapat ipahinga muna ‘yong mga doctor…Pati isolation facilities natin ngayon, punung-puno, ‘yun ang problema. It should be considered as far as I’m concerned,” Gordon said. 

(They should study all these suggestions – some are very meritorious – that doctors need to get some rest… Even isolation facilities are full now, that’s the problem. It should be considered as far as I’m concerned.)

The once-ruling Liberal Party (LP) likewise issued a similar statement, hoping the Duterte government would “empathize” with the plight of frontliners.

“Umaasa tayong pag-iisipan pa ng mas malalim ng pamahalaan ang desisyong ito. Na irerespeto nila ang karanasan ng mga nasa frontline, mag-eempathize sila, at makikita nila ang halaga ng hinaing sa mas malaking konteksto ng pandemic response,” said the LP in a statement.

(We are hoping the government would deeply consider this decision. We are hoping they would respect the experiences of our frontliners, emphatize with them, and see the value of their pleas in the context of the pandemic response.)

Party president, Senator Francis Pangilinan, said in an interview on DZRH on Sunday morning that there should be a “middle ground” between managing the health care system and the economy.

“Maghanap tayo ng kumpirmiso, maghanap tayo ng middle ground pero hindi pupwedeng balewalain ang kahilingan ng ating mga healthcare workers, ang ating mga doktor. Sila ang nasa harap ‘nong pandemya ika nga at kung hindi natin sila tutugunan, paano magiging epektibo ang ating pagsugpo sa COVID. Anong saysay ng ekonomiya, ‘di ba?” Pangilinan said, according to a transcript his office sent to media.

(Let’s look for a compromise, let’s look for a middle ground but we cannot ignore the request of our healthcare workers, of our doctors. They are the ones facing the pandemic and if we don’t respond to their call, how will our efforts to combat COVID be effective? What would be the use of 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”.

“Kaya babalikan ko ‘yong aking matagal nang minumungkahi dahil sa failure of leadership, dapat matagal nang sinibak si Secretary Duque kasi kahit na ano pang meeting nila, habang nariyan at chairman ng IATF ay napakita nang hindi kaya sugpuin itong COVID hanggang ngayon, aabot na ng mahigit nang isang daang libo ang pasyente, ang may mga sintomas o ‘di kaya’y mga positive cases tapos biglang nagkaroon ng magic, ‘yong 38,000 biglang gumaling lahat,” he said.

(I am reiterating my call that because of failure of leadership, Secretary Duque should have long been axed. No matter how often they have meetings, while he remains the chairman of the IATF who has shown he cannot address COVID up to now, the number of patients will reach 100,000 those with symptoms, or the positive cases. Then, there was magic, the 38,000 who all suddenly recovered.)

De Lima hits ‘monstrous’ data manipulation

LP member and Senator Leila de Lima, echoed Pangilinan’s statement. She slammed Department of Health (DOH) after it reported a whopping 38,075 recoveries in just one day on July 30.

It raised the public’s eyebrows since the department’s COVID-19 data has been notoriously riddled with errors. 

“This is a blatant and monstrous manipulation of data! Hindi iyan ‘mass recovery;’ ‘yan ang mass deception – mas maramihang pandurugas. Ang mild at asymptomatic ay hindi pa magaling dahil nakakahawa pa at potensyal na magdala ng sakit sa mga mas bulnerable,” De Lima said in a statement.

(This is a blatant and monstrous manipulation of data. That’s not ‘mass recovery;’ that’s mass deception – widespread deception. The mild and asymptomatic cases have not yet recovered because they are still contagious and have the potential to infect the vulnerable. 

“Lagi na lang bang ganito, kapag hindi nasosolusyunan ang problema, dadayain na lang ang datos? Lolokohin na lang ang taumbayan?” added De Lima, who remains in jail due to multiple drug charges. 

(Will it always be like this, that when they can’t solve the problem, they’ll manipulate the data? Are they always going to deceive the public?)

It turns out the sudden increase was not because thousands of patients recovered in just one day, but because the DOH was finally able to validate backlogs that have plagued data upkeep for months. How PH recorded over 38,000 COVID-19 recoveries in a single day)

The IATF also belatedly adopted criteria for discharging patients established worldwide. – Rappler.com