Sen. Cynthia Villar on Saturday claimed that another strict lockdown is not possible for Metro Manila again despite a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region, and medical frontliners calling for it for the health care system’s sake.
“Hindi natin pwedeng isara ang ekonomiya, kailangan pag-igihin ng (Department of Health) at iba pang agency ang kanilang hakbang,” Villar said in an interview on radio station DWIZ and captured on video.
[We can’t let the economy close down again, the Department of Health and other agencies need to intensify their efforts.]
“Kapag lockdown kasi magsa-suffer ang ekonomiya. I guess we have to live with COVID 19.”
[If we go through another lockdown the economy will suffer.]
This was the senator’s response to the medical community’s appeal to shift Metro Manila back to stricter lockdown measures, as health frontliners reported “waging a losing battle against COVID-19.”
Villar, whose family owns several businesses in Metro Manila, urged medical workers to step up their game during these times.
“Hindi na siguro (babalik sa ECQ), pagbutihin nila trabaho nila. Hindi pwedeng isara ang ekonomiya kasi kung ‘di naman mamamatay sa COVID, mamamatay naman sa gutom ang tao,” she said.
[No return to ECQ probably, they just have to do their jobs better. The economy can’t be closed down because if people will not die from COVID-19, people will die of hunger.]
“May time in our lives na ikaw talaga ang mapapagod. Iba-iba naman ang kalamidad. So itong kalamidad na ito ang mapapagod dito ang health frontliners natin. Iba iba ‘yan, but I guess we need to work hard.”
[There are times in our lives when we really get tired. Calamities are different. So this calamity, the health frontliners will be the ones to get exhausted. It’s all different, but I guess we need to work hard.]
But in a statement Saturday afternoon, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the President had directed the Inter-Agency Task Force to take action on the medical groups’ concerns.
