Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate called on local government units to follow the example of Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso who has offered free mass swab testing for vulnerable workers such as vendors and drivers in Manila.
"Ito ang dapat gawin ng iba pang local government units at maging ang national government. Puwede naman palang gawin kapag may political will. Kaya sabi namin, 'sana all' (This is what other LGUs and even the national government should do. If there's political will then it's doable. That's why we say, 'sana all')," Zarate said during the Makabayan Bloc's weekly virtual press conference.
Accordimg to the Davao-based congressman, mass testing is very crucial and paramount in the objective of flattening the curve of COVID-19 infection.
Zarate called the Manila government's free mass swab testing as a "bold initiative" that would help trace and isolate COVID positive patients, thus, reducing the rate of the spread of the new coronavirus.
"Mayroon tayong mga mahihirap na kababayan, kahit may nararamdaman silang sintomas ay hindi na sila nagpapatest dahil wala silang kakayanan (Some of our indigent countrymen don't bother to get themselves tested despite feeling symptoms, because they're unable to)," he noted.
Zarate said he hopes Manila's free swab testing would become the standard in the country.
READ MORE: Mayor Isko orders free swab testing for vendors, drivers, other workers