Solon wants House members, employees prioritized for COVID-19 testing

Senior Citizens party-list Representative Francisco Datol Jr. wants members and employees of the House of Representatives to be prioritized for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing.

Datol made the remark even as the country still experiences a low testing capacity for the disease.

During the virtual meeting of the Health and COVID-19 Response Cluster of the House Defeat COVID-19 Committee, Datol said that giving priority to House members in testing will allow them to ensure their health status, thus enabling them to provide assistance to their constituents.

"Dapat mauna tayong ma-test, yung mga congressman, congresswomen at mga empleyado ng Congress. Lahat naman tayo nagbabayad ng PhilHealth," he said.

According to Datol, an amount of P900 is deducted from the salary of lawmakers every month as contribution to PhilHealth.

"Yan naman ay pwede namang ibawas sa ating salary kasi nga binabawasan naman tayo ng PhilHealth... [kaya] sana ma-testing naman ang ating mga kasama, tayo," he said.

"Tayo pinagtiwalaan tayo. Kapag hindi tayo nag-house to house ngayon at may sakit sila, pupulaan tayo. Kung maaari, unahin niyo muna sana na kami ay makapaglingkod nang tapat sa aming kinasasakupan," he added.

The panel was deliberating during their virtual meeting the measure introduced by Iloilo Representative Janette Garin that encourages a baseline polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 testing for vulnerable members of society to curb the transmission of the disease.

Datol suggested that senior citizens with at least one underlying co-morbidity, regardless if they are employed or not, be considered as a vulnerable member of the society.

He also proposed that senior citizens be included in the priority list for testing, and that elderlies that do not have the means to purchase a testing kit be given full testing subsidy.

"I hope that this body will consider my suggestion para naman mapawi ang kaba at alinlangan ng ating mga lola at lolo sapagkat malalaman nila ang Kongreso ay nandito para alagaan sila," Datol said.

In response, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire assured Datol that the Department of Health has long considered senior citizens as part of the vulnerable population, and that they are a priority for the department's services.

"Pinangangalagaan [natin] sila, lahat ng measures natin kasama sila at kino-consider ang ating mga elderlies," she added.

Vergeire on Tuesday said that instead of "mass" testing, the Philippines is implementing an "expanded" COVID-19 testing, which initially covered vulnerable and severe cases of the disease but has since been extended to those with mild symptoms.

Asymptomatic cases are also currently being tested, Vergeire added, but only those who had exposure to COVID-19 patients.

As of May 20, a total of 13,221 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Philippines, with 842 deaths and 2,932 recoveries. —LDF, GMA News