Senator Francis Pangilinan (Photo from Kiko Pangilinan website / kikopangilinan.com / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party (LP), issued the statement when queried by Senate reporters on whether he favors a planned reimposition of curfews to reduce coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections.
‘’No, I am not. As we have seen this past year since the first lockdown last March 2020, that the restriction of movement including checkpoints, arrests of quarantine violators are all ineffective without the needed nationwide testing, contact tracing and isolation,’’ he said.
‘’What we need are the caring hands of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers not the iron fists of the PNP (Philippine National Police),’’ he added.
Press Release
Where is mass testing, tracing, and isolation one year on: Pangilinan
SENATOR Francis Kiko Pangilinan on Friday said it will take more than the newly-imposed uniform curfew in Metro Manila and the presence of the police to rein in the coronavirus infection which is on the rise anew. Mag-iisang taon na ang kung ano-anong CQ o lockdown. Nakita na natin ang epekto. Hindi nakokontrol ang pagkalat ng sakit ng pag-aresto at lalung-lalo na ng pagkulong sa mga quarantine violators kung walang mass testing, contact tracing, at isolation, Pangilinan said. Kailangan natin ng mga solusyong galing sa mga eksperto sa public health, hindi yung mga eksperto sa baril o giyera. Kailangan natin ang kamay na ma-aruga ng mga doktor, nurse, contact tracers at vaccinators, hindi kamay na bakal. What we need are the caring hands of healthcare workers not the iron fist of armed men, he added.
Why we need to trust science
Written by Jason Tan Liwag
Updated Jan 29, 2021 4:34:28 PM
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Editor’s Note: Jason Tan Liwag is an early-career scientist taking his MS in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He is also an actor, a writer, and the founder of Queer Scientists PH. The opinions expressed in this story are the author’s.
Dagupan City (CNN Philippines Life, January 29) When the lockdown began, medical frontline workers were left in limbo without public transportation. Photos and stories of frontliners from different parts of the country walking to work, some still in their PPEs, quickly populated local news sites and social media. Better mobility was crucial to the pandemic response and, as they discovered a few months later, the key to it was simple: broadening the existing mobility movements and coalitions to involve the doctors and medical frontliners in the lobbying.