Actress Liza Soberano was trending on Twitter on Tuesday for asking a "genuine question": where is the support for the poor, especially now that Metro Manila and surrounding provinces are in a stricter quarantine bubble?
Soberano's three posts on the government's response got 100,000 likes and 20,000 retweets as of early Tuesday. It also attracted both criticism and praise. The actress is known to use Twitter, where she has 4.4 million followers to express her views on national issues.
"My heart bleeds for all the people who cannot afford not to go out and work. They literally have to choose between dying of starvation or dying of COVID. Is our country really this poor to no be able to provide stimulus?? Genuine question lang po," she said.
The NCR Plus bubble, which will last until April 4, allows only essential travel and shut some businesses including restaurant dine-ins and cinemas. Public gatherings are banned. The national government has not announced the distribution of ayuda or cash and grocery aid, which it did during the ECQ and MECQ of 2020.
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"America has received 2 rounds of stimulus already, waiting on the 3rd. COVID testing is free, vaccination is free. Where is the support for the poor in our country? Madali lang naman po mag stay at home if everyone has food on the table and money to pay the bills," Soberano said.
The government is prioritizing the innoculation of frontliners with donated vaccines while waiting for the jabs that it ordered. Mass vaccination could start in April or May, said Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., the country's vaccine czar, during President Rodrigo Duterte's weekly address to the nation late Monday.
Also on Monday, Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez explained why the government is borrowing billions of the pesos during the pandemic -- tax collections are down and COVID-19 requires additional funds.
"Hayy I honestly don’t even know if my tweets/ my voice is actually doing anything. We can only pray for compassion now. Good night everyone! God bless all of you. Stay home if you can," Soberano said, ending her series of posts.
Late last year, Soberano was called out by an Army general for speaking before a women's forum.
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