DEPUTY Speaker and Bagong Henerasyon (BH) party-list Bernadette Herrera has rejected Malacañang decision to place the National Capital Region under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), citing the negative effect of the lockdown on the economy and residents.

Herrera warned that placing Metro Manila—the financial center and key to many economic activities of the country—under the strictest quarantine status would further cripple the economy and push more people into extreme poverty.

“The economy and our people have suffered a lot and we they certainly cannot afford another lockdown without enough financial assistance from the government,” Herrera lamented in asking Malacañang to reconsider its decision. “Kawawa ang mga tao at negosyo dahil wala namang nakalaan na ayuda para sa kanila.”

“Ayon po sa datos, halos 100% ng nagkakasakit ng COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-19) ay nakaka-recover naman. Ngunit ano po ang porsiyento ng mga nakaka-recover na establishamentong nagsara? Mga nawalan ng hanapbuhay? Mga nagsarang kompanya,” Herrera stressed, adding:

“Dalawa po ang laban dito: laban sa sakit, at laban sa kahirapan. Sana po mabigyan ng kunsiderasyon yung pangalawa.”

Citing estimates from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Herrera said the country will be “losing hundreds of billions of pesos from the lockdown, with hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk.”

Herrera noted a statement by NEDA Director General Karl Chua that each week of ECQ in NCR will cost the economy P105 billion and the lockdown will increase the number of poor people by up to 177,000 and 444,000 more without jobs.

“Bakit hindi natin silipin ang istatistika. Sa bilang ng mga namatay dahil sa COVID-19, ilan sa kanila ang may commorbidity at may existing na sakit,” she asked, noting that additional lockdowns will definitely cause “mental” and “psychological” stress to our people, especially to those who will lose jobs and income.

Instead of imposing another metro-wide lockdown, Herrera said the government should focus on urging people to prevent non-essential activities and intensify its vaccination campaign to increase the country’s defense against the Delta variant of COVID-19.

“Let us urge those who have no important reason to go out to just stay home to prevent the spread of the more deadly COVID-19 Delta variant,” the party-list legislator said.

“Hinahamon po natin ang ating IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) kabilang na ang DoH (Department of Health) na maglabas na estatistika at pruweba na ang pagbubukas ng mga kainan at iba pang negosyo ay direktang may kinalaman sa pagtaas ng bilang ng mga nagkaka-COVID sa bansa,” Herrera exclaimed, adding:

“Out of the 14 million Filipinos residing in Metro Manila, around 0.06% contracted and died from COVID-19.”

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco