Senator Joel Villanueva
MANILA -- Senator Joel Villanueva on Tuesday called on the government to consider implementing a quarantine measure like the one imposed in 2014 at the height of the worldwide Ebola virus scare for returning Filipinos coming from coronavirus-hit areas.
“It’s important that we protect the greater majority. Gawin din (Do it also), we strongly advise the inter-agency task force on coronavirus to implement this measure,” Villanueva said in an interview.
The chair of the Senate Committee On Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development was referring to the 139 Filipino peacekeepers who were quarantined for 21 days in Caballo Island after returning from Ebola-hit Liberia as a safety precaution against the deadly virus.
He said the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should seriously consider this measure in planning the possible repatriation of Filipinos in Wuhan City in China.
According to government data, there are around 150 Filipinos in Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was first detected last December.
Villanueva, however, believes that repatriating Filipinos from the coronavirus-hit city is better said than done due to logistical and safety issues.
“First, they cannot leave (Wuhan) because it is under lockdown. Second, as far as protecting our people here, we cannot encourage them to come home,” he said.
Villanueva also urged the government to take all necessary steps to prevent the novel coronavirus from entering the country, which may include banning the entry of cruise ships coming from China.
According to the World Health Organization, the new strain of coronavirus has reached Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, the United States, Canada, and France.
The Philippines remained free of the novel coronavirus.
A cruise ship carrying 800 Chinese nationals recently docked in Manila.
“Every time they say that there are still no confirmed cases here does not mean that it is still not here. Kung ano man ang mga hakbangin na kayang gawin ng atin pamahlaan para protektado tayo lahat (Whatever steps the government can do to protect us all), then let’s do it,” he said.
“As they say, ‘desperate times call for desperate measures,’ kaya baka dapat na kanselahin muna ang mga byahe ng cruise ship na galing sa China (so there may be a need to cancel the travel of cruise ships from China for the meantime),” Villanueva said. (PNA)
