President Rodrigo Duterte addressed the nation late last night, Apr. 27. According to him, the government will be implementing a modified community quarantine as new guidelines are being made. There are still ongoing discussions on how to implement social distancing amid a modified quarantine, especially with public transportation.
The President began his speech by denouncing “peace talks” with communist rebels after expressing his woes about attacks that have occurred towards soldiers doing relief work for COVID-19. Rebels from the New People’s Army (NPA) have recently attacked soldiers from the Army’s 91st Infantry Battalion last Apr. 21.
“I am so sad about this development, but there will always be a time for reckoning. There [are] no more peace talks to talk about. I am not, I will never be ready for any round of talks,” Duterte said.
For recent developments on the quarantine amid mass testing efforts, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña mentioned that DOST is undergoing Project Ginhawa–a project for the production of ventilators that will help in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Currently, they are at the final stages of producing three prototypes of these ventilators and will still be conducting more research along with University of the Philippines, Don Bosco and Mapua.
More personal protective equipment (PPE) will be given to healthcare workers and other frontliners. The President orders that all PPEs must be delivered to Secretary Galvez as he will be assigned to distribute the equipment to the different participating government agencies. Frontliners who are based in farther provinces will have their equipment delivered via Air Force.
Duterte also states that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doubles their forces and operates for 24 hours a day. He orders to employ more personnel for both the FDA and DOST.
The President also reminds businesses to take care and secure the protection of their employees, especially those who are still working inside malls and sari-sari stores. He also instructs citizens to voice out their concerns to local authorities.
For the Philippine National Police (PNP), they are encouraged to offer transportation to stranded frontliners, the elderly, children and women that they may encounter.
As of writing, there are 7,777 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines with 932 recoveries and 511 deaths.
Header photo courtesy of the Presidential Communications Operations Office
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Writer: THEA TORRES
