Who is the real “pasaway”?
When medical frontliners complained about the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the country and the health system nearing collapse, Duterte scolded them and even dared them to stage “a revolution.”
While the Duterte administration has implemented a two-week stricter lockdown, other legitimate demands raised by medical experts have been largely ignored. It must be pointed out that many of the recommendations have been articulated by several health NGOs since day 1 but, unfortunately, these have fallen on deaf ears.
The viral photo of two medical professionals sleeping on the corridor wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) shows the problem of hospital workforce deficiency. As early as April, the Filipino Nurses United, for instance, called for the hiring of at least 42,000 nurses (or one per barangay) who can help in education drive and contact tracing, as well as in assisting residents who need to be isolated. Four-thousand more nurses are needed to be hired in government hospitals, FNU said. The Department on Budget and Management, meanwhile, approved the hiring of 15,757 health workers under a contract of service for a period of three months.
The failures in case finding and isolation, as well as in contact tracing and quarantine, are due to the Duterte administration’s refusal to conduct mass testing. Since March, community doctors have urged the government to conduct mass testing so that appropriate measures like quarantine and contract tracing would be better implemented.
On March 20, the Department of Health did not yet see the need for mass testing. But due to public clamor, the DOH announced it would conduct mass testing starting April 14 but only for elderly people with pre-existing ailments, the severe to critical cases, frontline health workers and those who have symptoms and had recently traveled or had been exposed to persons found positive for the virus.
The testing capacity remains below government’s own target of 30,000 tests per day as of this writing. A survey released in early May revealed that there is no regular testing of health workers. At the time of the study, only 42 percent of symptomatic health workers and 30 percent of asymptomatic health workers were tested.
As early as March, advocacy group Community Medicine and Development Foundation has been pushing for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kit or diagnostic test for accurate results. The group said that rapid testing yields 40 to 50-percent false negative. False negative means that an individual may get a negative result even if he or she is COVID-19 positive. Still, due to lack of a national comprehensive plan, local government units and the private sector have resorted to rapid testing.
With regard to transportation safety, the Duterte administration has banned traditional jeepneys even if they are safer compared to the airconditioned and enclosed “jeepneys” (which are technically mini-buses) being endorsed by the government. The metro trains, also enclosed, were allowed to operate and over 280 of MRT-3 personnel were infected by the virus.
Again, the Duterte administration has no plan to ensure safe transport for medical frontliners and ordinary workers when it eased the lockdown restrictions last May.
The same goes for workplace safety. The Duterte administration’s passing on the burden to the companies to test their own workers amounts to outright neglect. The Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development (IOHSAD) said that the return-to-work policies given by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Labor and Employment “is a formula for disaster.”
“No mass testing, lax policies on workplace safety, policies that will undermine workers’ health, and lack of employers’ and government accountability. We fear that with these policies, many workers will be infected and die,” IOHSAD said when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was lifted in Metro Manila.
As to public compliance with self-protection, it was only this month that the administration announced it would provide face masks to the poor. Again, urban poor group Kadamay has long called for hygiene kits, access to clean water and nutritious food. Now, government has also required the wearing of face shields in public places.
As they called for a timeout, medical frontliners also appealed for social amelioration for the poor. Duterte, however, said government has no more money. “I cannot give anymore food and money to the people,” he said.
This brings us to a very important question, “Where has all the money gone?” A total of budget of P606 billion ($12.264 billion) has been allocated for the COVID-19 response.
The government announced that beneficiaries of SAP will receive P5,000 to P8,000. On the average, however, a beneficiary family only received P5,611, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation. This is equivalent to just P11 per person over the last four months.
Filipinos complied with a two-month hard lockdown but the Duterte administration wasted it by not implementing urgent measures proposed by the World Health Organization, scientists, health advocates and critics. The call, “Solusyong medikal, hindi militar” (Medical solution, not militarist response) has been clear since day 1.
But the real “pasaway” in Malacañan Palace, along with his military generals, does not comprehend the message up to now.
We cannot let this government dilly-dally as our health workers dwindle in numbers. For our collective survival in the midst of this crisis, we must continue to protest the inefficient and unscientific approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. The “pasaway” who chooses to wait for the vaccine to come must be shaken by the people’s rage.
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Indigenous, Moro leaders file 26th petition vs Anti-Terror Law
The 26th petition to the Supreme Court against the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act was filed August 7 by indigenous peoples, Moro leaders and their advocates.
NPA to give military honors to Fidel Agcaoili tomorrow
“On August 8, Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Ka Fidel, all units of the NPA are directed, wherever they may be encamped, to go on formation at the break of dawn, hoist the banners of the Party, NPA and the NDF, present arms, and sing The Internationale as a way of remembering and giving Ka Fidel our snappiest Red salute,” the NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC) said.
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81 COVID-19 cases among health workers, total at 5,326 as of August 5
The Department of Health (DOH) Situationer Report with data as of August 5 recorded 81 new confirmed COVID-19 cases among health care workers, bringing the total cases to 5,326 or 4.6% of the cases in the country. An additional 42 active cases were recorded, bringing the total of active cases to 472. There were 39 […]
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Amid rise in COVID-19 cases in government sector, group calls for free testing, treatment
“We condemn the continuing lack of protective equipment, assurance of free testing and treatment among all public sector employees.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The largest federation government employees unions is pushing for free mass testing and treatment for government employees infected by COVID-19.
According to the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) report, at least 153 government agencies nationwide are halting their operations amid the increasing cases of COVID-19 among employees. Of this number, 108 are in Metro Manila.
There are already 7,472 employees who tested positive for the virus and about 10,000 more are suspected of being infected.
In their online press conference on Aug. 6, Alan Balaba, national president of the Social Welfare Employees’ Association of the Philippines, said that most of those who are infected were involved in the distribution of social amelioration program.
Balaba lamented that there are no clear protocols on how the DSWD management will assist the infected employees.
“Kanya-kanyang diskarte,” (They’re on their own) he said, as testing and treatment are shouldered by the employees. Balaba said government must provide treatment for all infected employees.
The union, he said, also helps employees who need to undergo testing or isolation. They also distributed hygiene kits and other supplements.
The Confederation for Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) said that the increasing COVID-19 cases among their rank is detrimental to the delivery of public service especially in this pressing time.
COURAGE National President Santiago Dasmariñas, Jr. said that many of the cases are in agencies that have a vital role in the COVID-19 response, particularly the DSWD and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
He said that there are already 11 confirmed cases in the DSWD National Office and 18 other cases in DSWD-NCR.
“We are fearing that these numbers are actually growing as we speak especially in the regional offices. Social workers and MMDA laborers are the most at risk among our ranks to contract COVID-19,” Dasmariñas said.
“We condemn the continuing lack of protective equipment, assurance of free testing and treatment among all public sector employees. The frontliners are already bleeding, inaction and ineptitude will cost us dearly as a nation” Santiago added.
Threat of losing jobs
Balaba added that the employees are not only worried of contracting the virus but also of the possibility of losing their jobs amid the pandemic.
Balaba is referring to the Department of Budget and Management National Budget Circular 580 (DBM-NBC 580) or the Adoption of Economy Measures in Government Due to the Emergency Health Situation issued last April.
The circular was brought about by RA 11469 or the Bayanihan Act of 2020 which gave President Duterte the emergency powers to realign and raise funds for the government’s COVID-19 response.
Roxanne Fernandez, spokesperson of the Kawaning Kontraktwal Laban sa Kontraktwalisyon (KALAKON), said workers’ jobs, needs and benefits, especially that of the job orders and contractual workers, are usually the first to be sacrificed in cost-cutting measures like this.
Fernandez said that circular “states that to effect the 10% discontinuance, economy measures shall be implemented which includes primarily the discontinuance of hiring of job orders, except those considered as frontliners during this state of public health emergency.”
She said the pandemic and the DBM Circular is a big blow to the job orders and contractual employees.
Meanwhile, Dasmariñas reiterated COURAGE’s demands since March 2020: alternative and safer working arrangements such as work-from-home schemes, and free transportation services for the skeletal workforce in agencies.
Balaba said that many of the government employees also suffer from the lack of public transportation especially now that Mega Manila is reverted back to modified enhanced community quarantine. He said that while there are shuttles, these are not enough to accommodate all the workers.
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Manila court denies mother’s plea to be with newborn
“The decision to take away a newborn child from her mother is a callous, inhumane act against a person who fears for her life and of her child despite the concerning fact that Reina Mae doesn’t deserve even a single day in jail.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 20 once again denied the plea of political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino to be with her daughter for a longer period of time.
The order, which was signed by Presiding Judge Marivic T. Balisi-Umali, was released on July 30. Earlier, the court already denied the plea of Nasino to let her stay with her newborn in jail.
Nasino filed a motion for reconsideration asking again the court to allow her and her baby to stay at the hospital or at the prison nursery of the Female Dormitory of the Manila City Jail until her baby is one year old.
In a statement, Fides Lim, spokesperson of Kapatid, the support group for families and friends of political prisoners, said “the decision to take away a newborn child from her mother is a callous, inhumane act against a person who fears for her life and of her child despite the concerning fact that Reina Mae doesn’t deserve even a single day in jail.”
Umali based her decision on the letter-comment of the officer-in-charge of the Manila City Jail Female Dormitory which states that the dormitory is over 300-percent congested and not a healthy place for a baby to stay.
The OIC also said that Nasino is already feeding her baby formula milk. Lim said however that this should not be used as justification to sever the bonds between a mother and infant.
Lim said the presence of a mother to provide full care for her newborn is important. “Even the animal kingdom is flush with cases of how moms stay with their young and teach them how and what to eat to stay alive,” Lim said.
The court’s decision is heartbreaking, said Lim, especially that Nasino is a first-time mother.
“Forcible separation from her child is the worst thing that can happen to a mother who is also a victim of planted firearms as a political prisoner. She should not be made to pay this price. The right to take care of your child is a most fundamental one, but a court can strip it from a political prisoner so callously,” said Lim.
Because of the lower court’s denial of Nasino’s motion, Lim said this steps up the pressure on the Supreme Court to act with exigency on the petition they filed on April 8.
The petition is urging the SC to release 22 political prisoners, including Nasino, as well as ordinary prisoners who are most at risk from the pandemic.
Nasino was arrested together with two other activists on Nov. 5 last year when the police raided their office Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Manila in Tondo, Manila.
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