The terms "lockdown" and "alert level" became household utterances under President Duterte's administration. Now, his daughter wants to help put an end to these notions.
Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) vice presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is seeking to halt disruptive Covid-19 lockdowns, vowing that she and her May 2022 poll partner, presidential bet Bongbong Marcos will bring the country’s economy back to its feet.
“Tigilan ang lockdown o alert level. Bukas, sarado. Bukas, sarado ang mga negosyo. Ibalik natin ang mga negosyo. Ibalik natin ang mga trabaho na nawala dahil sa pandemya (Let's put a stop to lockdowns or alert levels. Businesses open up only to close down again. Let's revive businesses. Let's bring back the jobs that we're lost during the pandemic),” Mayor Sara said during a campaign rally at the Calatagan Gymnasium in Calatagan, Batangas.
Though no fault of its own, the Duterte administration imposed stringent lockdowns or "community quarantines" in the country beginning March 2020 in order to limit Filipinos' movement and along with it the spread of the deadly Covid-19.
This brought the local retail, transportation, and tourism industries--just to name a few--down to its knees, triggering massive loss of jobs.
Thanks to its mass vaccination program, the government was able to replace the community quarantine system with the more flexible and economically viable Alert Level System (ALS), although upper tier alert levels can still be quite restrictive.
“Ang dami po sa ating mga kababayan ang nawalan ng trabaho dahil sa pandemya. Doon po muna tayo tututok, ibalik natin ang trabaho na mawala dahil sa pandemya (A lot of our countrymen became unemployed because of the pandemic. Let's focus on that first, let's bring back the jobs that were lost because of the pandemic)," stressed the presidential daughter.
The elder Duterte will step down on June 30, 2022.
Marcos is the standard-bearer of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP). Mayor Sara chairs Lakas-CMD, whose president, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, serves as her campaign manager.