BEGINNING Thursday, April 9, the public is urged to simultaneously applaud at 5 p.m. daily the healthcare professionals and essential workers who are in the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, spokesman for the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), made the call as the nation commemorated the Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) Thursday.
“Simula ngayong Araw ng Kagitingan, araw-araw nating palakpakan ang mga frontliners tuwing alas-singko ng hapon,” Nograles said in a Facebook post.
Also on Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte honored not only the Filipino troops who made their last stand in Bataan but also the frontliners in the fight against Covid-19.
He called on all Filipinos to draw strength from the veterans of Bataan, as well as from the unnamed heroes “who, despite great personal risk, continue to work so that we may all survive”.
“The battlefields of Bataan tested the character of our forebears and produced heroes that defined our generation. Today, as our generation is tested by a global health crisis, we see the rise of present-day heroes,” the President said.
He cited the medical professionals and other health workers, military, police and other law enforcement personnel, firefighters, security guards, and frontliners in the food service, transport, waste disposal and other essential industries.
“May their example give us the courage and strength to endure this pandemic and rise as a stronger and more resilient nation,” Duterte added. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)