To my fellow workers in government; ating mga butihing gobernador at mga alkalde ng mga iba’t ibang lungsod ng Pilipinas, welcome.

Unfortunately, I am not able to welcome you myself at tinamaan ako ng COVID at nag-positive ako kanina kaya’t nakatago muna ako for a while. But I am sorry that this happened because marami sana tayong pag-uusapan.

But anyway, first of all, let me congratulate you all sa pagkapanalo dito sa nakaraang halalan. Alam ko naman na ‘yung ating mga winner ay naging winner dahil kinikilala ng ating mga kababayan ang inyong magandang trabaho na ginagawa at ‘yung tunay na serbisyo na inyong ginagawa para sa ating mga kababayan. So I think that is a very clear indication of the good work that you have been doing.

Tonight, we were hoping — had I been there — tonight we were hoping to talk about the proposal of our Vice President-Secretary Inday Sara tungkol sa face-to-face classes.

Dahil sa aking palagay at sa aming palagay, we agree entirely that the face-to-face classes should already begin.

Secretary Inday has a plan of a phased return to the face-to-face classes. Classes will start maybe in August, September, and by November, ang plano niya ay maging full on na lahat five days a week face-to-face ang ating gagawin. Sa simula, baka two days a week lang, three days a week.

Well anyway, I will leave her to explain this you at kanyang plano ito, siya ang gumawa.

At corollary to this, kasama nito ay nagpa-briefing din ako sa IATF, sa DOH, at mayroon talagang concern na kailangan na makapag-booster shot lalo na ‘yung mga batang bumabalik sa eskuwelahan.

So let us return to the idea of what we did last year na magkaroon ulit ng vaccine rollout. Gawin na natin ito para makatiyak na tayo. At pagka maging matagumpay ang ating booster rollout ay makikita naman natin siguro puwede na nating ibaba ang mga alert level, puwede na nating gawing optional ang mask.

Pero hindi po natin gagawin ‘yan hanggang maliwanag na maliwanag na safe na talaga. Dahil although so far maganda naman ang takbo, hindi naman napupuno ang mga ospital. Ngunit kung hindi tayo maingat, mapupunta na naman tayo doon.

So I will again apologize that I have acquired the virus and I am not able to be with you there at medyo nagbago ‘yung plano ng ating meeting — meeting/dinner.

But I hope that you will be part of the effort that we have to bring us back to normal. This is really part of the effort to bring us back to normal.

Unang-una diyan talaga ‘yung face-to-face. Malaking bagay ‘yan parang magbubukas talaga ang ating ekonomiya, magbubukas na naman ang ating lipunan at hindi na natin iniisip ang lockdown.

Gawin natin itong booster rollout at makakatiyak tayo wala ng lockdown at ayaw na ayaw na naming magkaroon ng lockdown. Kaya’t ito naman ang magiging pang-counter natin diyan sa pagkalat na naman nitong Omicron and its variants para pagkalat niyan ‘yung booster will be the one that will be the answer for us na makabalik na tuloy-tuloy makabalik na sa opening of our society, opening of our economy, opening of our businesses. Iyon naman talaga naman ang habol nating lahat.

So please let us do what we did the last time. The local governments did a very, very good job sa vaccine rollout last year. Ulitin lang natin minsan na lang, ulitin lang natin minsan ulit para sa booster shot, lalong-lalo na para sa mga bata at makabalik na ‘yung mga bata sa full-on face-to-face classes, number one; at pangalawa, this will signal to the rest of the economy that we are opening up, this will signal to the rest of the world that we are opening up for business. So ‘yan ang ating plano sa ngayon.

At muli, binabati ko kayong lahat at congratulations sa inyong mga panalo, at hindi naman siguro tatagal at magkikita tayo soon. Ayaw ko lang mag-superspreader sa inyong lahat at marami tayong gagawing trabaho.

So thank you very much for tonight and I hope to see you very soon. [applause]

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