By Hannah Torregoza President Rodrigo Duterte will talk to health experts this week to seek their inputs on whether there is a need to extend the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine beyond April 30. Senator Christopher “Bong” Go confirmed this on April 18, saying the President has invited past and present secretaries of the Department of Health (DOH) from different administrations to consult them regarding the government’s COVID-19 response. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go (SIMEON CELI JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) “Sa totoo lang po mahirap ang ating sitwasyon sa ngayon. Ipit na ipit ang Pilipino. Sa pagkaalam ko mas dapat higpitan sa mga susunod na 11 araw hanggang April 30 (The truth is, we are in a difficult situation now. Filipinos are in a tight situation. As far as I know, we need to be stricter in the next 11 days until April 30),” Go said in an interview on GMANews TV. “And I think ang Pangulo ay magdedecide ngayong linggong ito kung i-eextend pa po o luluwagan (And I think, the President will decide this week whether to extend or to ease the restrictions),” Go said. Go, who chairs the Senate health committee, said the President has also invited the country’s health experts to come to the meeting which will be held on April 20, Monday. The next few days, he said, would be crucial for the nation as this would determine whether the government is prepared to extend the lockdown or modify it at least to get the economy running back again. “Ako naman, bilang legislator o senador at committee chair po ng health, uunahin ko po syempre ang buhay ng bawat Pilipino, kaya lang po kailangan din nila kumain, tignan din natin ekonomiya, (As chair of the committee on health, I would prioritize the lives of Filipinos, but they also need to eat. We also need to look into our economy),” he pointed out. “Problema dito wala pa tayo medisina. Problema natin una, buhay ng tao. Pangalawa pagkain ng tao. Pangatlo, economy. Pang apat, medisina, wala pa tayong medisina para sa sakit na COVID-19 (The problem is we still have no medicines. Our primary concern is the life of the person, second is food for the people, third is our economy, third fourth is the medicine. But we have yet to develop a medicine against COVID-19),” he explained. The enhanced community quarantine was supposed to have ended on April 13, but was extended to April 30 after the government determined it necessary in order to properly check the impact of COVID-19. Noting that there are now more recoveries than deaths, Go said what is important is to ensure that no more people would die from the disease. "Sana ay lumabas na dahil ito na lang ang hinahantay natin. Ang Pilipino naman, matatapang tayo, kaya lang kapag wala tayong gamot, mahirap nang magkahawaan (I hope the vaccine we are all waiting for would be out soon. Filipinos are brave, but if we don’t have the medicine, it would be harder to stop the spread of the disease),” he said.