Hontiveros: Stop blaming coronavirus surge on 'pasaway' Filipinos
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros rebuffed claims that the country's relatively slow progress against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was due to a lack of effort and discipline on the part of Filipinos, highlighting again that the new pathogen is a health issue that requires medical solutions.
"Realtalk: this isn't because Filipinos are 'stubborn.' Given the proper safeguards and correct measures, Filipinos will cooperate for our health and safety," she said.
"What we need are effective and intensified health measures that we have been pushing for since Day 1: mass testing, protection for health workers, raising the line of our health system," Hontiveros said.
This comes after Interior Secretary Eduardo Año was quoted in a Manila Bulletin report on Sunday that the COVID-19 surge could have been avoided if the general public had only cooperated with quarantine rules and regulations.
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"Infuriated by the undisciplined public, Año stressed that there will be no COVID-19 surge if each individual will only adhere to quarantine protocols," the report said.
Social Weather Stations surveys suggest that most Filipinos actually take the pandemic seriously, follow health protocols, and leave home only for essentials like food and medicine.
SWS also found that most Filipinos had to live on government aid, spending their savings, or taking out loans because of the work suspensions in quarantined areas.
Distribution of government aid has hit snags, prompting the House of Representatives to call a hearing on Monday to look into lapses in the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program.
'You are all winners since you are alive'
Each citizen should be a "frontliner," Año was quoted in the Manila Bulletin report as saying. .
"You are all winners since you are alive. Look at the case in America, there are two million cases (COVID-19) with 120,000 fatalities. We are already winners here," he added as he urged Filipinos to see the bright side of the pandemic.
As of the health department's latest tally update on Monday evening, 30,682 Filipinos have been sickened with the new pathogen since it was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December when President Rodrigo Duterte initially refused to impose a travel ban over mainland China.
Año's statement is consistent with the government putting the responsibility of curbing the spread of COVID-19 on Filipinos by showing "discipline", and the blame on rising cases on their being "pasaway" or stubborn, a repeated narrative throughout the community quarantine.
"Blaming Filipinos for the surge in cases distracts from the need to better our approach towards the pandemic. COVID-19 is first and foremost a health problem," Hontiveros said Monday. — Franco Luna
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