Kapamilya actress and philanthropist Angel Locsin came to the defense of the medical community after President Rodrigo Duterte’s uncalled for remarks against the health workers.
On her Instagram story, Angel reiterated that the country’s enemy is COVID-19 and not the health workers or the citizens.
“Nung una, UP ang kalaban.”
“Ngayon naman health workers. Pagsuporta ang kailangan. Hindi pagsindak. COVID po ang kalaban. Hindi ang mamamayan,” Angel wrote.
On Saturday, August 1, several medical practitioners from over 40 medical societies went on a public zoom conference to voice out their plea to give health workers breathing space amid the continued rise of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Dr. Jose Santiago, head of the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), read the medical workers plea to the government to bring back Metro Manila to ECQ status to give them time to recalibrate their steps in controlling the pandemic.
“We propose that the ECQ be used as a timeout to refine our pandemic control strategies addressing the following urgent conditions or problems: hospital workforce efficiency; failure of contact tracing and quarantine; transportation safety; workplace safety; public compliance with self-protection; social amelioration,” Santiago read.
“Our health workers should not bear the burden of deciding who lives and who dies. If the health system collapses, it is ultimately our poor who are most compromised. In the end, winning the war against COVID-19 relies heavily on being able to keep our health system capacitated to address the need of all Filipinos.
“We hope our government heeds this plea,” he added.
During his midnight public address, Duterte said didn’t like the public statements of the medical groups. The president, after thanking the medical community, berated health workers saying they can ask for an audience with him but refrain from demeaning the government and asking for a revolution. This threat came despite medical workers never saying they wanted a revolution against the government.
“Next time, you can ask for an audience. Pero ‘wag ho kayong magsigaw-sigaw, rebolusyon, rebolusyon,” Duterte said.
Meanwhile, in a subsequent post, Angel thanked the medical frontliners for their sacrifices. She also affirmed continuous support for them saying she will always be their ally.
“Patawad kung minsan ay pasaway. Ngunit nais iparating, kakampi niyo kami, health workers. Mag do-doble ingat para makagaan sa pasanin kahit paano. ‘Wag sanang panghinaan ang inyong loob,” she said.
“Mahal namin kayo. Naka-suporta kami sa inyo. Kailangan namin kayo. Kayong mga bayani sa giyerang ito. Maraming salamat sa sakripisyo para sa amin.”
