The two-week extension of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon should be a modified to an area-specific lockdown, Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte proposed Monday.
The modified lockdown “will reboot certain businesses along with the government’s infrastructure buildup program in order to rejuvenate the economy even before the coronavirus pandemic is over,” he said.
READ: Luzon lockdown extended until April 30
On the other hand, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the Department of Health needs to do 10,000 tests a day to identify and isolate suspected COVID-19 cases and to treat confirmed cases nationwide.
Unless this happens, he said, it might be risky to lift the ECQ to revive the economy, as new cases could spread again.
“If we cannot do the 10,000 mass testings a day and we cannot look for the suspected, probable and confirmed cases ng COVID-19, the virus will continue to spread in the whole country,” Gatchalian said.
“Almost 50 percent of COVID-positive [cases] are asymptomatic… If they continue to move around, they are sure to infect people, especially the senior citizens,” he said.
The senator said the challenge in the next two weeks is how the national government can ramp up the volume of mass testing all the way up to 10,000 tests a day, which he said is a key milestone.
READ: Lockdown displaces a million workers—DOLE
The area-specific lockdown Villafuerte proposed would keep most people at home, but allow the resumption of certain businesses, especially those in vital sectors such as the food and health industries.
This would revive the economy and ensure the steady supply of foodstuff, medicines, health products and protective equipment, he said.
“Certain businesses need to reopen, subject of course to the strict observance of social distancing and hygiene protocols by employers and their employees, to somehow revive the domestic economy this early after its sudden stop, following the implementation of personal movement restrictions in Luzon and other parts of the country to stop the quick spread of Covid-19,” the solon said.
Villafuerte said certain enterprises must be allowed to reopen for business to save them from possible insolvency and termination of their employees.
“Moreover, allowing them to reopen for business would let these enterprises put their employees back to work and let them regain their means of livelihood,” he added.
READ: With cases spike to 3,660, government wavers on lifting lockdown
As a member of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee, Villafuerte said the President’s signature “Build, Build, Build” initiative must be put back on track, as infrastructure investments offer the highest multiplier effects, including job generation, on the economy.
Thus, it could stimulate high growth even while the health crisis is still raging across the globe, he said.
“The President’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ is an engine of growth and should thus be put back on track during the extended ECQ period,” the lawmaker said.
“The revival and acceleration of infrastructure investments are guaranteed to re-ignite economic activity and create jobs, especially for a lot of Filipino workers dependent on the ‘no-work, no-pay’ setup who have lost their means of livelihood when the domestic economy ground to a halt last month,” he added.
In supporting the ECQ extension until April 30, Villafuerte said the additional two-week period is necessary to further stop the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus.
He said it was still too early to tell if there was already a “flattening of the curve” or a slowdown in community transmission. With Macon Ramos-Araneta
READ: Without right control, crisis could drag on