Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday expressed her support to extend the enhanced community quarantine in the entire Luzon, including Metro Manila, to prevent further spread of coronavirus disease in the country.

“I agree because of the projections we are seeing, extension is better to flatten the curve,” Robredo said in a television interview when asked if she was in favor of the proposal to extend the lockdown in Luzon for 15-20 days after it expires on midnight of April 13.

However, the Vice President said the government should fast-track in giving the assistance as it will be "crucial" for the public to understand the need for the extension.

“I think it will be crucial for the people to understand the situation for them to cooperate. Because if they will not understand, there will be resistance. We have seen in the last few days that there were some violators,” Robredo said.

She said resistance from the people will be lessened if their needs will be taken care of, especially the laborers who lost their earnings due to the enhanced community quarantine.

She added that in order to speed up the distribution of the social amelioration program, it should be handled by the local government instead of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“I doubt that they (DSWD) can fast-track this (distribution), because anything centralized is hard to speed up… I think it should be handled by the LGU. First the LGU has the sense on what is really happening on the ground. LGU knows the landscape,” Robredo said.

“They should just place safety nets to prevent corruption… but because of the fear of corruption, this (assistance) will not reach on time to the people who need it, I think that’s the bigger problem… Transparency and accountability measures should be enhanced but there should be trust to the local government units because this is vital to assure that our people will have something to eat everyday,” she said.

The government allotted P200 billion for about 18 million households who have been severely affected by the enhanced community quarantine. Each family will receive a special subsidy consisting of food items and cash ranging from P5,000 to P8,000 depending on the minimum wage prevailing in the affected region.

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the whole of Luzon under the enhanced community quarantine from March 17 until midnight of April 13. Ella Dionisio/DMS