Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto is urging the government to start a 100-day "summer offensive" against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
As the Philippines marked its first year under COVID-19-related lockdowns with a surge of infections, Recto said the government should make a vaccination "battle plan" against the coronavirus "that will end the stalemate and turn the tide in our favor." "Like any war, the people can only be assured of victory not with words but with a show of weapons in use: vaccines in the arms of the people," he said in a statement.
Malacañang, he said, "should use the anniversary to unveil a 100-day plan for a summer offensive from April to June, with clear targets in terms of the number of people vaccinated, the number of vaccines that will arrive, and where they will be sent." "We need a battle plan that will not only unify the nation, but will lift our spirits and assign us the role we have to play. This is the clear tunnel vision we need," he continued.
The senator said this would be the "best way" to honor those who died from disease and "recognize the heroes" fighting the pandemic.
Recto likewise said this could also serve as the government's "to-do list" before President Duterte's fifth State of the Nation Address in July.
"So that when the President addresses the nation on the fourth Monday of July, it is to declare victory and announce that our long national nightmare will be over soon," he said.
"So when he mounts the rostrum on that day, the first thing he does is wave the DOH’s daily COVID tally showing new cases down to a couple of hundreds, and a report that tens of millions have been vaccinated," he added.
Recto said that "when the fighting targets are clearly communicated to the people who see a leadership that inspires by example, the war will be won."