Grant COVID-19 frontliners discounts, use of express lanes –solon

Frontliners responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat should not only be allowed to use special or express lanes in supermarkets, convenience stores, and groceries, but they should also be given store discounts, Agusan Del Norte Representative Lawrence Fortun said in a Monday statement.

Fortun thus enjoined the Department of Trade and Industry and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to seek these privileges, on behalf of frontliners, from these shops.

"We note that there’s a couple of stores doing this already. Let’s make it nationwide. That way our frontliners who are exhausted from their extremely challenging tasks will have more time to rest and rejuvenate," the representative explained.

Frontliners only need to show their identification cards to avail of the discounts and use of the express lanes, he added.

"If the frontliners cannot do their own grocery shopping because they need to rest, they can assign someone else in their household to do the errand," Fortun said.

"These are simple ways we can collectively show our nation's gratitude for their courage and sacrifice as they do battle against COVID-19."

Fortun also encouraged the public to express their gratitude to the frontliners when they come across them.

"An appreciative clap, a courteous bow, a cheerful smile, an eager hand wave, and making way for them in long lines," he said.

"Our frontliners carry heavy burdens. They always have and especially so in these pandemic times. Every simple gesture matters. Gratitude expresses our humanity," he added. — DVM, GMA News