As we witness the excruciatingly slow and inefficient governance of this administration, more lives are on the line – not only due to the dreaded disease but also due to hunger and desperation.
After all the deliberations, the public demands more concrete answers. Immediate actions to combat COVID-19 do not require emergency powers. The problem is that from day 1, the Duterte administration does not have a comprehensive plan to deal with the crisis.
“Congress will make a disastrous mistake if its solution to the corona virus threat is centralizing more power to one man, especially one who believes that the problems of the country can be simplistically solved with the use of brute force and martial law powers.”
“We cannot fight without knowing the extent of the enemy.”
“The Duterte government should ensure affordable and accessible food supply especially to the poor and marginalized to guarantee the Filipinos’ survival against COVID-19 and hunger.”
State security forces violating the rights of detainees, the NUPL said, may be charged with civil, criminal and administrative charges, and violation of Republic Act 7438 or An Act Defining Certain Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation.
The only certainty we now have is that we have been left to fend for ourselves. This administration absolves itself of any responsibility to mind the ordinary people’s survival.
The workers need economic packages such as a month’s worth of salary that should be subsidized by the government or their company, moratorium on electricity and water bill collections or one month subsidy for these utilities.
Let us demand what our communities need the most – public health education, free testing, water supply, sanitation, subsidy.
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy defended red tagging progressive organizations during a hearing on anti-terror bill at the House of Representatives.
“The [anti-terror] bill provides powers to the executive branch that properly belong to the judicial branch.”