Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 25) — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. promised during his first State of the Nation Address on Monday that he will not declare restrictive lockdowns even as COVID-19 cases are increasing in the country.
“Hindi na natin kakayanin ang isa pang lockdown. Wala na tayong gagawing lockdown. Dapat natin balansehin nang maayos ang kalusugan at kapakanan ng ating mga mamamayan sa isang banda at ekonomiya sa kabilang banda,” he said, which earned loud cheers from the audience inside the plenary hall.
[Translation: We cannot handle another lockdown. We will not declare lockdowns. We need to balance the health of Filipinos and the economy.]
He said his administration is working with the private sector to ensure that all establishments can operate at full capacity.
The president also reiterated his earlier directive for the Department of Health (DOH) and other related agencies to revise the Alert Level system and its corresponding restrictions to be in line with the severity of infections.
Marcos is retaining the COVID-19 alert levels for now, but the DOH is planning to release new classifications on the second week of August to be “compatible” with the current milder coronavirus strains as the more transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant spreads across the country.
At present, a higher alert level means more restrictions on the operating capacity of establishments and offices.
The country has been under different levels of lockdowns during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s last two years in office.
