Recalibrate COVID-19 response, lawmakers urge gov’t

MANILA, Philippines — The government should “recalibrate” its COVID-19 response following the continued surge in coronavirus infections despite placing the country on a yearlong lockdown.

Rep. Sharon Garin said “there is something wrong” with how the government managed the pandemic, as the Philippines has one of the highest infection rates in the region.

“We cannot copy what we have done last year, we need to improve on it,” Garin told reporters in an online interview.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, chair of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said the enhanced community quarantine might be extended beyond April 4.

“All options are open on the table of the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases),” Lorenzana said in a television interview on Monday.

He said some members of the task force were against the reimposition of a lockdown because of the impact on the economy but eventually agreed to revert to the strictest lockdown due to the surge in cases in Metro Manila.

He said the weeklong lockdown would be used as an “observation” period to see whether cases would go down.

In an online interview with reporters, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo said one way to balance the health and economic cost of the lockdown was to provide cash assistance to Filipino families.

“To implement an effective localized lockdown, there is a need to have cash assistance,” she said.

Lockdown aid

Quimbo is one of the authors of the bill providing for P420 billion in lockdown aid.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Sunday expressed optimism that the hard lockdown during the Holy Week would give the country some respite from the resurgence of the virus.

He told the Inquirer the government should do “whatever it takes” to control the spread of infections, as the Philippines recorded all-time-high numbers in recent days.

Asked if the lockdown should be extended, Sotto said the COVID-19 task force should make an assessment after Good Friday.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the weeklong enforcement of lockdown in Metro Manila and nearby provinces should also give the government enough time to analyze what it did wrong and why the number of new coronavirus cases soared from an average of fewer than 100 to almost 10,000 after one year.

He said the government should acknowledge its poor management of the COVID-19 crisis after one year of one of the longest quarantines in the world.

“One year ago, our daily average of COVID cases did not even reach 100. We are now at almost 10,000 or a hundred fold,” Lacson told the Inquirer, noting that new cases on March 27, 2020 stood at only 96.

One year later, on March 27, 2021, it was at 9,595, he said.

“If that is not a measure of failure, I do not know anymore what is,” he said.