(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte advised Filipinos to “endure” the burden of lockdown protocols a little bit more to prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from further spreading.
The 75-year old Philippine leader said he himself had to suffer self-quarantine and could not celebrate his birthday with his family in Davao, and could not be there for the birthdays of his family members, including his grandson and daughter, Veronica “Kitty” Duterte who celebrated her 16th birthday on April 10 without him.
“Kaunting tiis lang, sabi dito. Kaunting tiis nga. Ako mismo, sabi ko sa iyo tatlong birthday… Ang masakit sa akin kasi ang nagbawal sa akin mag-land ang anak ko. So sa panahong ito kung ano ‘yung pinapairal nila na batas, wala akong magawa. Because they are trying also to protect the people of Davao City,” he said in a televised address on Thursday night, April 16.
The President admitted this is very hard for him.
The lockdown or quarantine is an unfortunate thing but has to be implemented, he said.
“And you know, I have to admit it. This thing about sequestration or quarantine is a cruel — is a cruel action by the government. Hindi madali ito. Pati ako nasasaktan,” he said.
Duterte said that if people would again converge, infections would again surge. The problem is the country does not have enough supplies to feed people indefinitely.
“Again, I said, I know it’s hard. Alam mo sa totoo lang, gusto ko ng lumabas kay alam mo bakit? We are running low, low as in low ‘yung ating supplies. Sabi ko nga eh we cannot feed you forever hanggang kamatayan,” he said.
“Hindi ka naman mapagamot lahat kaagad-agad. Ilan lang ospital. Wala man akong hospital na libo eh kaya we had to go for ‘yung — ‘yung namang — ‘yung makeshifts hospital for the numbers. At ‘yon namang mga may-ari ng mga buildings, mga hotels na who so generously gave — offered, one day I will maybe go to you and thank you personally for helping us. In the meantime, mga kababayan ko, kaunting panahon na lang.”
Duterte extended the enhanced community quarantine until April 30, and tasked the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to finalize what would be the measures to be implemented after that.
(Eagle News Service)
