President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will likely extend the state of public health emergency in the Philippines due to COVID-19 pandemic until the end of the year.
“Maraming mga binibigay sa international medical community kapag state of emergency. World Health Organization is one of them,” Marcos told reporters during a vaccination campaign in Manila on Wednesday, August 17.
“Kung itigil natin ‘yung state of emergency, matitigil ‘yun. But if we can change — we are looking at amending the law in terms of procurement and all of that in the middle of an emergency. But that will take time. So malamang we will extend it until the end of the year,” he added.
The state of public health emergency was declared by former president Rodrigo Duterte in March 2020, which “shall remain in force until lifted or withdrawn by the president.”
Such proclamation is different from the state of national calamity also declared by Duterte at the onset of the pandemic and is set to expire on September 12.
A state of public health emergency orders the national government and local government units to cooperate and mobilize necessary resources to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, a state of calamity enables the national government and local government units to tap into appropriate funds for its COVID-19 response.
Thumbnail photo by Daniel Roberts from Pixabay
