AMID calls for government to provide for more free testing against Covid-19 as a surge believed fueled by the Omicron variant risks derailing a fragile recovery, Senate President Vicente Sotto III affirmed over the weekend that Congress gave the Duterte administration the means for such, but said political will is necessary to make it a priority.
The Senate leader reminded everyone that lawmakers, before adjourning for their traditional year-end recess in December, already ensured availability of enough funds to bankroll the government’s efforts to effectively contain the spread of the coronavirus.
In an interview with DWIZ, Sotto remained confident that the Duterte government can also find the means to finance mass testing of high-risk populations threatened by Covid-19.
Recalling earlier suggestions that government-backed free swab tests should have been done earlier to track down potential virus carriers, the Senate leader said this could still be done. “Pwede. Pwedeng pwede. Kaya yan kung gusto. Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahilan [Possible. Very possible. That can be done if one wants it. If there’s a will, there’s a way; but for those who don’t want to, there’s always a reason],” said Sotto.
The Senate leader added that even if it was true that no funding was specifically allotted for “free mass testing” in the 2022 budget, there is an available option: “Well, you can classify it already under the budgets we have put in place in the Department of Health. [There’s something, and in the billions]. It’s a matter of, really, you set aside funding for which component of the program for Covid-response,” Sotto said, partly in Filipino. “It’s a matter of management. Management plays a big role here.”
Solon weighs in
TO maintain the momentum of the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), a lawmaker on Sunday said the government should invest in providing free antigen and RT-PCR tests to allow health authorities to properly segregate and isolate those who are sick without disrupting the lives and livelihood of those who are Covid-free.
AP Party-list Rep. Ronnie Ong, in a statement, said declaring another quarantine lockdown in Metro Manila and its nearby areas because of the recent surge in Covid-19 cases will only affect MSMEs, which represents 99.5 percent of all businesses in the country and employs more than 62 percent of the total labor force.
After the country shifted to alert level 3, Ong said MSMEs flourished anew and the country’s economy was getting back on track.
Another lockdown, he said, can have serious and unbearable setbacks on the country’s economic recovery especially on MSMEs whose capital have already been depleted because of the series of quarantine lockdowns.
“Many businesses are still barely recovering and have invested everything they have just to recover from almost two years of financial hemorrhage. I just wish that government should also look at their plight and support them by providing free antigen and RT-PCR tests to all. Let us not disrupt the people who are Covid-free by providing free and periodic mass testing,” Ong said.
Ong said that instead of resorting to sweeping community quarantines, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) should manage the Covid-19 problem through massive vaccination, mass testing, and effective contact tracing.
Butch Fernandez, Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz