Pangilinan seeks granular lockdowns amid rising COVID-19 cases

Senator Francis Pangilinan wants to allow local government units to impose granular local lockdown in their respective areas amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Pangilinan made the remark as the country commemorates the first year since community quarantines were imposed due to the threat of COVID-19.

"Sa halip na national modified quarantine, dapat gawing granular. Bigyan ng kapangyarihan ang mga lokal talaga na gawing granular yung lockdowns," Pangilinan said in a radio interview.

("Instead of a national modified quarantine, it should be made granular. Let's empower local government units to make lockdowns granular.")

"Sila kasi ang nakakaalam kung dumadami o hindi ang mga nagkakasakit, sila mismo ang nandiyan sa mga barangay at sitio. Sila rin ang merong karanasan sa maayos na pagkontrol ng virus," he added.

("They are the ones who would know if infections were increasing or not, as they are there in the locality. They also have the experience in the proper control of the virus.")

The first community quarantine was imposed from March 15 to April 14, 2020, and covered the National Capital Region and Cainta, Rizal. When the lockdown was imposed, the daily number of confirmed cases was 29, for a total of 140 cases.

While Pangilinan supported the opening of the economy, he said the government should intensify its testing and contact tracing efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

"Importante yung contact tracing at yung mass testing para sige tuloy na buksan natin yung ekonomiya. Pero [dapat] tuloy-tuloy yung mass testing [at] ang contact tracing para alam natin kung nasaan ang kaaway," he said.

("Contact tracing and mass testing are important to allow the opening of the economy. But they should be continuous so that we will know where the enemy is.")

Pangilinan lamented reports that the number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country had dropped from the ideal 30,000 per day to just 20,000.

"Kaya hindi natin makita yung kaaway -- yung virus kasi kung saan-saan -- kung kulang ang testing…Eh talagang hindi natin malalaman [kung] sino ang may sakit at sino ang hindi at hindi na-isolate kaagad," he stressed.

("The reason why we can't see the enemy --- the virus is all around --- is because there is not enough testing. We really won't know who is sick or not, and isolate them right away.")

The senator maintained that contact tracing and testing efforts should be consistently implemented as the general population waits to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Philippines on Saturday reported another record high of 5,000 COVID-19 infections, the highest reported in seven months, bringing the total tally to 616,611.  — DVM, GMA News