FILE PHOTO: A hospital worker walks past a colorful mural honoring frontliners painted in front of the Mission hospital in Pasig City. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is calling on the national government to declare March 15 of every year as “Frontliners Day.”
Marcos said March 15 is the “most appropriate day” to honor and recognize frontline workers since the government first imposed the most stringent enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila on March 15, 2020.
Marcos said despite the confusion in the early days of ECQ, essential workers and frontline workers performed their tasks even with the dangers posed by COVID-19.
“Kung hindi sa kanila baka lalo nang huminto ang pag-ikot ng ating mundo. Maraming salamat sa ating mga frontliners at panahon naman siguro para sila’y kilalanin ng ating pamahalaan dahil sa kanilang kabayanihan,” Marcos said in a statement.
(If it were not for them, our world might have stopped. Thank you to our frontliners and it’s time that the government acknowledges them for their heroism.)
“Maaaring maliit na bagay para sa iilan ang panukala nating ito pero napakalaking bagay po ito para sa ating mga frontliners at sa kanilang pamilya. At dapat kilalanin din natin ang mga nasawing frontliners sa gitna ng pandemya,” he added.
(Maybe for some this is a minuscule proposal but this is a huge thing for our frontliners and their families. We also have to honor frontliners who died in the middle of the pandemic.)
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