No to endless lockdowns and #DutertePalpak  

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the IATF-EID’s decision to put the National Capital Region (NCR) under a ‘hard lockdown’ due to the rising cases of the highly-transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant will just be a vicious cycle of lockdown as a band-aid solution to the government’s grossly inefficient pandemic response. Lockdown tayo noon, lockdown pa rin tayo ngayon. Filipinos don’t want to be trapped in an endless loop of lockdowns and failed COVID response.

Metro Manila will be under GCQ “subject to heightened and additional restrictions” from July 30 to August 5, and under ECQ from August 6 to 20. Several provinces will also be under different quarantine classifications, mostly GCQ and MGCQ.

President Rodrigo Duterte and the IATF know no other solution than lockdown and restrictions. Local to national level responses are still very lacking. Like in previous months, the latest surge of COVID-19 cases can be attributed to the absence of an integrated system for testing, tracing, and treatment, inadequate capacity of hospitals, and very slow vaccine rollout. At the current pace of vaccination, the PH will finish inoculation and achieve herd immunity by 2030.  

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KMP also noted that COVID-19 testing stagnated and lowered to less than 50,000 cases per day when the needed testings must be over 100,000 daily. Genome surveillance is also very sluggish at its current pace as the Philippine Genome Center only has an output of 750 tests per week, and still needs to expand its sequencing capacity in the Visayas and Mindanao. LGUs are still relying on minimal vaccine supply from the national government. Vaccinations in many NCR cities halted during the first week of July due to lacking or delayed vaccine supply.

Worse, the government has no plan with regards to providing cash and economic aid for the population, especially sectors that will be affected by the upcoming hard lockdown.

Likewise, it seems that the people’s demand for ayuda and subsidies were muted by the government and the IATF. May petsa na ang hard lockdown pero wala pang pang pinag-uusapang pagbibigay ng ayuda sa masa. Bahala na ba ulit ang mga LGU? Bahala na ba ulit si Batman? Bayanihan 3, still pending in Congress, must include a sufficient budget for aid and economic stimulus, KMP concluded. ###