MANILA: A group has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to act on its petition to postpone the conduct of the May 9, 2022 elections as it would endanger the lives of voters amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Coalition for Life and Democracy on Tuesday filed an urgent motion to set hearing and manifestation in connection with the December 10, 2021 petition it filed before the Comelec seeking to move the 2022 elections to May 9, 2025.
“Unless the elections is suspended or postponed, the exposure of people to death and health hazard will continue and intensify, a situation that is most unfair and suicidal on the part of all electors,” the group’s petition read.
“Worst, many would be disenfranchised as people would, for fear of losing their lives, avoid going to polling precincts to cast their votes,” it added.
The group also cited the unresolved petitions for disqualification of those who filed certificate of candidacy for the 2022 polls, as well as party-list groups that contested Comelec decisions denying their bid to be accredited as legitimate party-list groups before the Supreme Court.
The Philippines will expand coronavirus restrictions in Manila from Wednesday to include more than 11 million people living near the capital as cases surge, the government said.
Daily infections have spiked to a two-month high in January and the health department warned of higher caseloads in the coming days following the detection of local cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The provinces of Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal surrounding Manila have been placed under the third highest alert “due to a sharp increase of Covid-19 cases”, presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said in a statement Tuesday.
Under the tighter restrictions, which will be in place until mid-January, unvaccinated residents have to stay at home unless buying essentials or exercising.
Restaurants, parks, churches and beauty salons will operate at lower capacity while in-person classes and contact sports are suspended. The order comes a day after Manila went to Alert Level 3.
Around 70 percent of residents in Metro Manila are fully jabbed but less than half the national population is fully vaccinated, according to government data.
“We did initial estimates. The assumptions would be ... Omicron is eight times more transmissible than Delta, and that the peak will happen at the end of January,” health undersecretary Rosario Vergeire told CNN Philippines.
“It will be more than the numbers we saw during the Delta peak,” she added.
The health department has deemed the entire country of 109 million at “high risk” following a spike in cases in recent days, Vergeire said, even as hospitalisations remain under control.
Before the tighter quarantine rules, the Philippines had been under its second-lowest alert level since December 3 as cases fell, which allowed restaurants and indoor venues to ramp up capacity and in-person classes to resume on a limited basis.
The Philippines has recorded over 2.8 million infections and more than 51,000 deaths.
