Statement of CHR spokesperson, Atty. Jacqueline Ann de Guia, on the proposals to declare a national emergency and grant special powers to the President to combat COVID-19

Much has to be discovered about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). With little known information about its cure, this pandemic continues to challenge healthcare systems around the world, such as in the Philippines. The task before our government is to ensure that interventions can cope with the rate of infections; thereby curbing its spread and saving the population from critical illness. We recognise that moves to declare a state of national emergency, which consequently grants emergency powers to the President, has been proposed as a more aggressive measure than placing Luzon under enhanced community quarantine and the entire country under a state of calamity. Difficulties of this scale call for […]