Brothers and sisters, it has been almost nine months since the government placed many areas of the country under different forms and levels of community quarantine in order to stop the spread of Covid-19. Before these steps were taken, many have already said that a travel ban for foreigners from other countries should have been implemented because of the increasing number of positive cases. But the government allowed entry of foreigners in a business-as-usual fashion until the beginning of the local spread of the virus.
When community quarantine began, which we can consider as a lockdown, many of us called out for government to conduct aggressive contact tracing and mass testing. These have not been fulfilled—or have not been done in an acceptable manner. In contact tracing, for example, we can only know up to seven of our contacts or people who have encountered a person with Covid-19 in urban areas, and up to 30 people for every ill fellow man in rural areas. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a proper system and documentation of cases, which are still done manually by the local government units. There are still not enough contact tracers in the country.
Meanwhile, as many have been yearning for mass testing that the World Health Organization strongly suggested, President Duterte realized this measure’s importance just the past week. Conducting swab testing was said to be expensive, especially in private medical facilities and hospitals, which led the government unable to dedicate funds. When Health Secretary Francisco Duque reported the prices of swab tests to President Duterte, the President ordered his secretary to use government funds for a Covid-19 testing program. Mass testing refers to identifying persons with Covid-19 to lessen the number of cases to a more manageable level based on the current health system capacity of the country. Mass testing must be done to all who are suspected to have Covid-19 as well as those close to them, all health frontliners, and those living in areas considered to be high-risk or vulnerable communities.
After the rising allegations of corruption in PhilHealth, fake sand dumped in Manila Bay, and the President was able to purchase a private jet priced at P2 billion, President Duterte—after nine months—just realized the importance of mass testing. Then again, he only considered Covid-19 as the top problem of the country last July. Four months after the administration placed the country on lockdown.
Other countries have started to vaccinate their people, but here in the Philippines, we are still in the first wave of the pandemic. Even if we don’t have the same capacity to reserve vaccines unlike other wealthy countries, our government could have taken prompt action, including mass testing. Our current situation is reflected in what our government has prioritized.
Brothers and sisters, it is said in the Catholic social teaching Gaudium et Spes our complicated situation right now seeks for action the government must fulfill to strengthen the conditions in helping the people achieve their total well-being. In the current crisis, the government should have prepared a medical solution for a medical problem. This depends on great leaders. As said in the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, “If it is encouraging, encouraging. When you give, you should give generously from the heart; if you are put in charge, you must be conscientious; if you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.”
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