Hotels and similar establishments may be tapped to serve as temporary health facilities to accommodate more patients in the wake of the country's cases of coronavirus, according to President Duterte.
(KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)
The President mentioned the "government power" to expropriate such business establishments while the country remained under a state of public health emergency.
"Government can expropriate 'yong mga hotels, motels, whatever kung kulang ang --- ang mga halfway houses natin 'yong naghihintay (to augment the halfway houses for those waiting treatment) so we kind of have the power," he said during a televised address Monday, April 12.
"The government has the power to just expropriate. Puntahan na lang at sabihin gagamitin. Huwag naman siguro 'yong mamahalin na hotel (Just go there and tell them we will use it. But don't choose the expensive hotels)," he added.
Some hospitals earlier reported reaching capacity for coronavirus patients as the country recorded thousands of cases in recent days.
The government was compelled to impose a two-week strict lockdown in Metro Manila and four neighboring provinces from March 29 to April 11 to curb the outbreak and prevent the collapse of the health system. The lockdown has recently been relaxed after the government moved to add more hospital beds by building modular hospitals and other temporary isolation facilities.
The President, in his remarks, also wanted some hotels converted into accommodations for health workers. He said some medical frontlines refused to go home to their families since they might infect their loved ones.
"If they go home to their families, itong mga trabahante na ito, whether it be the husband, the wife, or a daughter or a son, nurse, doctor or what, when they go home, they go home to the house where nakatira ‘yong mga taong iba na and invariably they are saying that they are afraid that eventually the COVID will catch up with them," he said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III assured the President that some hotel rooms have been reserved for medical frontliners who will show coronavirus symptoms.