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Coronavirus pandemic
This Week in AsiaHealth & Environment

Philippine coronavirus: Manila braces for lockdown, Duterte accuses doctors of seeking ‘revolution’

  • Return to stringent ‘modified enhanced community quarantine’ will force most businesses to close, inflicting further pain on the economy
  • Philippine president took aim at ‘troublemakers’ who recorded and shared a Tagalog version of Do You Hear The People Sing from Les Miserables

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Philippines returns to Covid-19 lockdown as infections soar to record highs

Philippines returns to Covid-19 lockdown as infections soar to record highs
Alan Robles
Metro Manila is gearing up for the return of strict lockdown measures that will force most businesses and metropolitan trains to shut down, putting pressure the country’s faltering economy, as it seeks to prevent its health care system from collapsing under the pressure of the Covid-19 crisis.
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Under a return to more stringent “modified enhanced community quarantine”, checkpoints will be re-established, requiring travel passes for commuters seeking to leave their houses. Domestic flights will be suspended and a curfew will be imposed, from either 8pm or 10pm to 5am, depending on the area.

Sunday’s announcement, during a televised cabinet meeting, caught many unprepared. Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Monday tweeted that long lines had already formed at the ATMs and groceries, describing the situation as “panic withdrawing/buying”.

During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, President Rodrigo Duterte also accused doctors and health care workers of trying to foment revolution, apparently reacting to a protest song from the musical Les Miserables which has been recorded and shared online by Duterte’s detractors.

While announcing Metro Manila’s lockdown, Duterte addressed doctors, saying “there would not have been [any] need for you to [raise] your hands as if you’re saying ‘revolution, revolution’”.

“Next time, you can just ask for an audience,” he said. “Now, if you think that this can be solved by revolution, then by all means, we start it.”

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Doctors have lobbied for a series of measures, including a strict lockdown, increased testing using RT-PCR instead of rapid tests and wider contact tracing. One group of doctors wrote an open letter criticising the government’s performance and calling for the resignation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque and the former generals leading the country’s coronavirus task force.

According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Duterte’s comments were in response to criticism of his government’s efforts to contain the pandemic and to the growing popularity of a Tagalog version of Do You Hear The People Sing?, performed by prominent Filipino singers and actors via Zoom, which has attracted 1.3 million views on Facebook.

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