Rama: ‘Let us free our senior citizens’

Cebu City vice mayor Mike Rama | CDN Digital file

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama is asking Mayor Edgardo Labella to allow the senior citizens in the city to go out during Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ).

Rama said in his privilege speech during the regular session that the senior citizens have suffered enough during the pandemic and they are being subjected to discrimination, causing depression as they remain stuck in their homes.

“We must not distrust our elderly simply because of their age, insinuating that they are incapable because of their years. In fact, we should appreciate them because of the wisdom that their encounters with life and its vicissitudes have afforded them. Disregarding this would be disadvantageous to us all in the long run,” said Rama.

The vice mayor himself is a senior citizen, but because of being a public official, he has been granted the privilege to go out. This cannot be said the same to other senior citizens who have struggled to buy food and medicine for themselves in the last six months.

He added that six months of confinement has brought the seniors citizens more pounds for eating too much and moving too little, and “a greater longing for freedom even if it means just living as if nothing had happened six months ago.”

Read: Stay at home order for Cebu City minors, elderly inked

Banning the senior citizens from churches and even the cemeteries will only put the senior citizens into deeper despair.

For this reason, the City Council has agreed to appeal to the Office of President Rodrigo Duterte to provide leeway for senior citizens in areas under MGCQ.

However, Councilor Joel Garganera, who also heads the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said in the session that senior citizens have a higher risk of contracting the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and even a higher risk of dying from the disease.

Rama said in a press conference on Thursday morning, October 1, 2020, that the city can still keep the senior citizens safe by making sure everyone adheres to the health protocols of wearing face masks and shields, maintaing social distancing, and disinfecting regularly.

For Rama, the senior citizens should not be left out and discriminated for their age during this pandemic as they also need to enjoy a quality life.

He urged Mayor Edgardo Labella to remove the restricitons as even the Interagency Task Force do not require the age restricitons for places under the MGCQ.

“Let us not wait for a lawsuit on this matter. Let us free our senior citizens,” said the vice mayor.

/bmjo