Senator Grace Poe on Friday, July 30, called on the government to ensure assistance for sectors that will be displaced by the upcoming reimposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) over the National Capital Region (NCR).
"As we protect our people from the virus, we must shield them from hunger, too," Poe said in a statement.
"The lockdown should come with timely and adequate cash aid and other available assistance to see them through the two-week period," she added.
President Duterte has approved the reimposition of ECQ in Metro Manila from August 6 to August 20, in light of the increasing infections of Delta COVID-19 variant in the region.
Before this, NCR will be under general community quarantine (GCQ) "with heightened restrictions" until August 5.
The executive department, however, has yet to find funding sources for the proposed distribution of cash aid to affected NCR residents.
"The government should not give them reason to leave their homes and face the perils of the more transmissible Delta variant," Poe stressed.
Meanwhile, Poe also said authorities should take advantage of the lockdown to ramp up the vaccinations.
"We count on our frontliners to find ways to bring the doses and the appropriate assistance closest to communities to ease the challenges of getting vaccinated," she said.
In a separate text message, Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel reiterated his call to have "willing" individuals vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
The government, he said, must set aside its vaccination priority list to allow the inoculation of more people.
"Release our mindset from these categories! Also use those donated by China, , Japan, US for those willing as these are not bound to COVAX conditions," Pimentel suggested.