IF worse comes to worst, the government may use iron fists to compel owners to lend their buildings which would serve as temporary quarantine and isolation facilities amid the continuously growing number of patients infected with coronavirus disease.
In a taped public address, President Rodrigo Duterte said that he would use his police power in taking over the hotels’ operations, but only if the situation escalates.
“I am not without power. When we are pushed to the wall, either by the microbe itself or by external, internal, I can always order the military and the police to go there and confiscate the operation of the hotels,” said Duterte.
He, however, reiterated that such would only happen if hospitals run out of space due to rising virus infections. But before the takeover, the President said that he would ask owners to allow the government to transform their hotels into quarantine facilities.
“Kapag sinabi na we are at a critical condition, there is no space for the doctors and the nurses to move and stay healthy, then we begin to exercise the police power of the state. Sabihin ko sa hotel, adre, pasensya ka na. Kailangan ko ‘yong hotel mo. Hiramin ko lang,” Duterte averred.
Despite the alarming spike in Covid-19 cases, Duterte ensured that the government knows how to address the COVID-19 pandemic – “We know what to do.”
Duterte guaranteed that the government is exhausting all efforts to contain the coronavirus.
“Do not be afraid. Government is working. Government is busy doing everything, not nothing. Government is trying to get things to fix all of us,” he said.
Interestingly, the President stood firm on keeping the team behind the government’s COVID-19 response even as he claimed that those whom he picked were “bright” and “right” people to stop the further transmission of the disease.
“I’d like to just disabuse the mind na nagkulang tayo, that we are lacking,” he said. “We are not really at a total loss of what to do. We know what to do.”
The Philippines on Friday logged 10,726 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total case count to 914,971.
The country has reported a total of 193,476 active cases, 705,757 recoveries, and 15,738 deaths.