Robredo calls for aid for daily wage earners, poor communities

Vice President Leni Robredo has called on the government to provide financial assistance and other social services to daily wage earners and poor communities, among others in the vulnerable sector.

The Vice President made the call a day after President Rodrigo Duterte placed Luzon under enhanced community quarantine which mainly banned mass transportation, grounding thousands of commuters. Aside from banning mass transportation, the enhanced community quarantine also entails strict home quarantine, regulation of provision for food and essential health services and heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures.

Specifically, she called for the urgent payouts of Conditional Cash Transfer, Social Pension for Senior Citizens and Unconditional Cash Transfers, as well as financial assistance to daily wage earners such as small-time peddlers of goods, construction workers, tricycle and payday drivers, among others.

In addition, the Vice President also pitched for prioritization of COVID-19 testing in high-density areas, establishing isolation areas for those who have exhibited COVID-19 symptoms, special attention to the elderly who are vulnerable to COVID-19, assistance for barangay units in charge of delivery of basic social services and support for health workers in terms of protective equipment and other basic needs.

“Kailangang mamulat ang lahat sa katotohanan na maaampat lang ang pagkalat ng sakit na ito kung aarugain ang lahat,” Robredo said.

“Kaisa ako sa panawagan ni Pangulong Duterte na sumunod sa social distancing measures. Ngunit hindi puwedeng iwanan na lang ang mga maralita para asikasuhin ang sarili nila,” Robredo added.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) and its partner, Kaya Natin Movement earlier raised P17.4 million in a fund drive for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) of health workers and other front liners amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OVP has also announced that it will provide a shuttle service to the health workers and other employees in frontline services by tomorrow, March 17, as a result of the ban on mass transportation in Luzon.

The Philippines has 187 COVID-19 cases as of March 17. Of this number, 12 have died while four others recovered. — Llanesca T. Panti/BM, GMA News