MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte will likely extend the state of calamity placed over the Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said this is because there is still no vaccine available against COVID-19 which has so far afflicted over 261,000 people in the country.
“Most likely po (it will be extended), dahil habang wala pong bakuna, habang walang gamot sa COVID, patuloy po ang epekto ng pandemya,” Roque said in an online briefing when asked if the President will renew the proclamation declaring the state of calamity in the country.
(Most likely, he will because as long as there’s no vaccine or cure against COVID-19, the pandemic will continue to affect us.)
Last March, the President, through Proclamation 929, placed the entire country under a state of calamity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to enable the government to implement measures to counter its effect on public health and the economy.
This also allowed local government units to access their quick response funds to respond to the health crisis.