Palace confident election campaign period won’t cause COVID-19 superspreader events

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is confident that the 2022 campaign period will not cause COVID-19 superspreader events with the strict implementation of rules and health protocols.

Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles on Tuesday said that the number of COVID-19 cases is seen to continue to decline this month.

However, this is still dependent on the public’s compliance with minimum public health standards and the COVID-19 vaccination rate, especially as the campaign period for the 2022 elections has officially begun.

“If all goes well, kailangang makita natin na pababa na nang pababa ang kaso ng bagong COVID-19 sa ating bansa ngayong Pebrero. But again nasa kamay natin ‘yan especially nga na nag-umpisa na ang campaign,” Nograles said in a Palace briefing.

(If all goes well, we should see that new COVID-19 cases would decrease this month. However, this will be up to us, especially now that the campaign period has started.)

“We are also confident that Comelec will enforce the guidelines, the rules and regulations when it comes to the campaign to ensure na hindi tayo magkakaroon ng superspreader events,” he added.

(We are confident that Comelec will enforce the guidelines, rules, and regulations when it comes to the campaign period to ensure that we won’t have superspreader events.)

Nograles urged the public to strictly comply with minimum public health standards and get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We hope that our projections will prove us right, but again it depends on our cooperation,” he said.

Meanwhile, he called on all 2022 candidates to keep the elections “fair, orderly, peaceful, and safe.”

The campaign period officially opened on Feb. 8.

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