Let us also swab-test the other, more important VIPs – the Very Important Pasaheros. 

I am referring to LSIs who have been packed for days in quarters so crammed that physical distancing was impossible, even for those adamant in observing it.

If we have tested for free those who’ve been on strict quarantine because they’re going to listen to a speech, then all the more we should test exposed individuals who are going home to their loved ones.

May karapatan din sa peace of mind ang mga komunidad na naghihintay sa kanilang pagdating. 

These “VIPs” are entitled to the same gold standard of testing, more so that they’ve been lodged in a place that will check all the boxes in the list of a possible outbreak spot. 

Malaking tulong din ito sa mga local governments na sasalubong sa kanila. It will be a great sigh of relief for them if the returnees carry the health clearance that matters. 

Kung ngayon, bawal magtransport ng baboy dahil sa ASF at kailangan may certificate na ligtas ang mga ito, tao pa kaya? 

A swab test will ensure that the coronavirus will not be hitchhiking to family reunions. Those positive will be flagged from boarding. And spare understaffed and underfunded LGUs and local hospitals from handling a “pasa load” from the national government.

I will leave it to the true experts and scientists in the IATF to study this clamor of LSIs, and how to implement it. We are also painfully aware of the shortage of test kits. 

Pero ang daming tao ngayon na ilang buwan nang nakaistambay, or sleeping rough, kumpol-kumpol. The same abundance of caution required of the few who attended the SONA should be applied to many. 

In this grandstand of people are the prime candidates for mass testing.(###)