Pessimism amid COVID-19 crisis understandable —Palace

Malacañang on Wednesday recognized that the majority of Filipinos are pessimistic about the future of the country’s COVID-19 situation.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement after a poll by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in July found that 57% of adult Filipinos believed that the worst is yet to come, up from 47% in May.

The SWS survey, conducted via mobile phone from July 3 to 6, revealed that the highest proportion of those who fear that the worst is yet to come reside in Metro Manila at 70%, followed by those in the Visayas at 61%.

“Naintindihan po natin ‘yung pessimism ng ating kababayan dahil napakahirap po talaga nitong pandemiya na dinulot nito. Pero ang masasabi ko lang po the worst is over. Kaya lang naman po we hit rock bottom dahil sinara natin ang ekonomiya,” Roque said in an interview aired on state-run PTV.

“Pero ang sinasabi lang po ng ating Pangulo [ay] puwede naman pong mabuhay basta pag-ingatan po ang ating mga kalusugan para tayo ay makapaghanapbuhay at makakamit natin ito sa pamamagitan ng hugas, mask, at iwas.”

The government began easing coronavirus restrictions in June to facilitate the gradual reopening of the economy, which plunged into a recession this year due to the pandemic.

The Philippines has so far reported 269,407 cases, including 207,352 recoveries and 4,663 deaths. --Virgil Lopez/KBK, GMA News