From the day the ‘lockdown’ was rumoured until the ‘community quarantine’ was announced on March 12, tweets calling for ‘solusyong medikal, hindi solusyong militar’ [medical solution, not military solution] pervaded the platform.

The first tweet to air the call was this tweet:

 

The call captured the feelings of many who articulated on this soon after and until this time of publishing.

It stemmed from sentiments that found the government solution wanting as there are no other clear and detailed plans for facing the COVID-19 local transmission.

 

 

They referred to the ‘community quarantine’ (that also many found similar to a ‘lockdown’ in its common dictionary definition) as being a ‘military solution’ or a militaristic approach, and the only wide-ranging solution government has implemented so far since the first COVID-19 cases in the Philippines were discovered on January 31.

Some even thought the ‘lockdown’ is similar to a martial law situation, that is why the government preferred the ‘euphemistic’ term of ‘community quarantine.’

The police and military, given there is a Joint Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict National Capital Region, will set up and man checkpoints at all boundaries. They will be checking IDs and proof of employment for around three (3) million or more workers residing outside Metro Manila plus deliveries and other business who will continue to be allowed in and out of the metro on as much as a daily basis and not eliminating the possibility spreading the virus in and out of the region. They also checked body temperatures, as per today’s first day of implementation of the ‘community quarantine,’ as did personnel in malls and other public establishments.

Merriam-Webster noted a 9,900% spike in lookups of the term ‘lockdown’ since March 12, following talks of a ‘lockdown’ in the US. That was the same day President Rodrigo Duterte announced the ‘community quarantine.’

The dictionary defines ‘lockdown’ as “the confinement of prisoners to their cells for all or most of the day as a temporary security measure” and “an emergency measure or condition in which people are temporarily prevented from entering or leaving a restricted area or building (such as a school) during a threat of danger.”

Many who are in favor of the community quarantine and staying indoors to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus expressed their opinions against the call, most of them visualizing the call as wanting medical doctors and health workers to be manning checkpoints.

 

 

Until Sunday night, Twitter was abuzz with explanations to the call.

 

 

Some also showed examples how other countries – with lockdown, travel ban or none – have given a big if not bigger attention to providing medical solutions and curbing economic impacts of the COVID-19 spread.

 

 

There were those who tried to weigh in or merge both sides.

 

 

 

What are your community or sector’s most pressing questions, concerns and needs? Share with us via comments below or send us a message at @manilatodaydotnet on Facebook or DM us at @manila_today. 

 

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