Amid the rising number of new infections and the detection of coronavirus variants in the country, a farmers’ group said Tuesday, March 16, that the country is “back to square one” a year after the government first imposed a lockdown due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) described the country’s situation right now to a “very bad case of Déjà vu,” saying that what happened last year will likely happen again, but this time “on a worse level.”
“One year after the COVID-19 militarist lockdown, we are back to square one — rising COVID-19 cases with new variants, new uniformed curfews and granular lockdowns in cities, no aid and livelihood for the pandemic-fatigued population,” KMP said in a statement.
“It's a like very bad case of Déjà vu. Everything that has happened in 2020 will likely repeat but on a worse level. We can only highlight Duterte's failed pandemic response,” it added.
The militant group has also noted that President Duterte and Health Secretary Francisco Duque should be held accountable as the government “failed” to address the raging pandemic in the country.
“Nauulit lang ang mga nangyari noong 2020 — walang mass testing, walang ayuda sa masa at walang konkretong pangkalusugang tugon sa COVID (What happened in 2020 is just a repeat — no mass testing, no mass aid and no concrete health response to COVID),” said Danilo Ramos, KMP chairperson.
The Philippines logged 5,405 new COVID-19 cases on March 15, the highest number of new infections for this year, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 626,893.
“We are on our 366th day of quarantine and lockdown, the longest in the world, and yet COVID-19 cases in the country are alarmingly rising,” KMP said.