Angara eyes conversion of COVID-19 quarantine facilities into evacuation sites

Makati City quarantine facilities

MANILA, Philippines — Convert COVID-19 quarantine and isolation facilities into evacuation sites for individuals affected by disasters, Senator Sonny Angara pushed on Friday.

Angara proposed the assessment to utilize quarantine and isolation facilities, saying that COVID-19 is now under control.

“We want to see the utilization rate of these facilities and I suspect that many of them are no longer being utilized now.

“We can put them to good use by converting them as evacuation centers for families affected by the typhoons that hit our country several times in a year,” Angara suggested in a statement.

Converting isolation centers, Angara noted, will unclog public schools which are commonly utilized as evacuation sites during calamities.

“Instead of suspending classes indefinitely after a storm hits a locality, having these isolation facilities available for use by the displaced families, together with the multi-purpose courts or gymnasiums, will spare the schools and ensure the continuous education of our students,” he explained.

The Senate committee on finance chairperson likewise said that daily COVID-19 cases are fewer and people getting seriously ill due to the virus are lesser because of vaccination.

Some COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, Angara pointed out, are just doing home quarantine.

To date, there are over four million total COVID-19 cases in the country. Out of the figure, 18,392 are active infections.

JMS