Instead of a lockdown, the government should provide the people with financial assistance, ramp up mass testing and intensify its vaccination efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country, a farmers group said Sunday, March 28.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the reimposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces is “nothing but a new scourge for the lockdown-fatigued population.”
“Hindi lockdown ang kailangan. Ayuda, mass testing at bakuna ang kailangan ng mamamayan (A lockdown is not the solution. What the people need are financial assistance, mass testing and vaccines),” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a statement.
“This ECQ reaffirms the government's failed pandemic response. Palpak si Duterte at lockdown lang ang alam na solusyon sa COVID (Duterte is a failure as his only solution to COVID is a lockdown),” he added.
The farmers group said the government should provide P10,000 cash aid to millions of poor families and P15,000 production subsidy for farmers and fisherfolk.
Starting March 29, Metro Manila and the and surrounding provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal will be placed under ECQ until April 4 to curb the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Malacañang said the government will be extending financial assistance to those who will be affected by the week-long ECQ.
But, it is not yet clear what assistance the people will receive as authorities are still finalizing the source of funds for the aid and the method of its distribution.
No love for B-day boy Duterte
KMP said Duterte will receive no love from farmers on his 76th birthday.
“We sincerely wish today would be Duterte's last birthday as President. We want him out of Malacanang as soon as possible,” the group said.
"Duterte added a number to his age today but he is not a year wiser. He is repeating all the failed responses to the pandemic. Like a mad man, he continues to ramble nonsense as he blames activists, human rights defenders, and even the New People's Army for the country's woes,” they added.