Senators suggest granular lockdowns as Delta cases rise

Several senators on Wednesday suggested granular lockdowns in a bid to prevent further transmission of the more dangerous Delta variant in the Philippines.

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Grace Poe, Francis Pangilinan as well as Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto made the pitch amid calls to impose a “circuit breaker lockdown” in the National Capital Region.

“Government should listen to the experts. Localized lockdowns may be necessary,” Recto said in a text message to reporters.

Pangilinan said the government must impose lockdowns in barangays with high number of COVID-19 cases based on the intensified testing and contract tracing.

“’Yun ang mga dapat i-lockdown agad agad at ipagbawal ang papasok o lalabas at hindi yung buong [National Capital Region],” Pangilinan said.

[Those areas should be placed on lockdown immediately and not the entire NCR.]

“Dahil umpisa pa lang ang surge, dun sa maraming kaso dapat tutukan ang lockdown para naka focus at hindi sabog ang effort. Ibang usapan na kung nahuli ang pag lockdown sa mga nasabing lugar dahil baka NCR lockdown ang kailangan gawin. Daig ng maagap ang masipag ika nga,” he added.

Poe and Gatchalian noted that it will be a “challenge” for the government to balance the health and economic crisis at hand.

“I hope that the experts will base their decision on scientific and factual data and learn from the successful policies of countries that contained the surge. We should also procure and administer more vaccines. It’s only by achieving herd immunity can we truly feel some semblance of normality,” Poe said.

Aside from granular lockdown, Gatchalian also said local government units should implement earlier curfews, liquor ban and reduce capacity in places of convergence.

“We already have vast experience on identifying the source of spread of the virus and we should restrict those without going into drastic lockdowns that can cripple the economy…We have to be vigilant and take the Delta virus very seriously,” he said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros also echoed her colleagues’ call for the government to act immediately.

“If there is an emerging consensus among experts on going into a preemptive or sooner-than-later lockdown--considering our limited capacities and resources to deal with a full scale surge --government should listen and act decisively. Ubos na ang [We've ran out of] 'time first.' If ECQ is necessary, then so be it,” she said.

She likewise urged the government to discuss financial aid for those affected by the pandemic as she lamented the non-inclusion of Bayanihan 3 bill in President Rodrigo Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address.

“We are still not testing and tracing enough, and testing kits remain prohibitively expensive for most Filipinos. The national positivity rate is still 2 to 3 times what [the World Health Organization] recommends. Hanggang dito na lang ba talaga tayo? I can only share the anxiety,” she asked.

“I am frightened by the images of the Delta variant’s onslaught in India and Indonesia, I urge  the government to be ready with the necessary safety nets, even as an early lockdown is contemplated,” she ended.

Earlier today, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion and some business leaders expressed support to OCTA Research Group’s suggestion to implement a two-week lockdown in NCR as the region recorded an average of almost 1,000 cases daily amid the threat of the more infectious Delta variant.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday agreed with OCTA Research's recommendation to implement "circuit breakers" amid the local transmission of the Delta variant.—LDF, GMA News