Marcos: PH keeps state of calamity but to stop treating COVID as emergency

MANILA, October 24 ------ The Philippines will stop treating the COVID-19 pandemic “as an emergency” but will not lift the nationwide state of calamity while the government has yet to settle several non-health issues, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.

The Department of Health (DOH) is now able to clearly identify which sectors are vulnerable to COVID-19 as compared when the pandemic just began in 2020 and the world had little information on the virus, Marcos told reporters when asked if the government plans to impose health restrictions anew after COVID-19 subvariants were detected in several regions.

“Ngayon ay masasabi natin maliwanag na maliwanag it is those patients with comorbidities that have been our fatalities so we cannot look at it the same way,” the President said. “We have to get away from the emergency stance of the DOH because we have to open up businesses, we have to make the Philippines more hospitable to travelers both business and tourist,” he said. “We must treat COVID no longer as an emergency but somethign that we will have to manage forever, it’s like flu, like pneumonia,” he added.

While remaining under a state of calamity “does not help”, Marcos said that the Philippines “cannot remove” this status just yet. “Halimbawa pag tinanggal ko yung state of calamity, hindi makukuha ng ating mga health workers 'yung kanilang benepisyo na nasa batas, hindi tayo makakapag import ng vaccine, 'yung sa procurement masyadong mabagal ang magiging procurement, yung indemnification fund na nilagay diyan para pagkanagkaproblema sa paggamit ng vaccine meron tayong pambayad,” he said. “All of these will disappear pag tinaggal yung state of calamity, pero sa ngayon naghahanap kami ng paraan para ma-normalize na natin,” he said.

The Philippines, however, does not need to highlight to the world that it is still under a state of calamity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the President said. “Hindi na natin kailangan sabihin na ang Pilipinas ay state of calamity pa rin para masabi natin sa ating potential investors, ‘Pumunta kayo sa Pilipinas, maayos na, pwede natin sabihin sa ating mga kaibigan na mga dayuhan, magbisita kayo dito, maganda na ang Pilipinas hindi na ninyo kailangan ialala yung COVID-19,’” he said.

Marcos said he would appoint a DOH secretary when he feels that issues within the agency no longer need the immediate attention of the President.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com